Obama, Iran, and Ayatollah Khamenei

Barack Obama is naïve on foreign policy. That's well-established.

Even his fellow Democrats, including his vice president and his secretary of state, labeled him as incredibly naïve regarding Iran.

Video here.

Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden were right to slam Obama on his Iran policy. But that was during the primaries and this is now.

TEHRAN (AP) -- Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rebuffed President Obama’s latest outreach, saying Tehran was still waiting to see concrete changes in American foreign policy.

Ayatollah Khamenei, who holds the ultimate responsibility for Iranian policy decisions, was responding Saturday to a video message Mr. Obama released Friday in which he reached out to Iran on Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and expressed hopes for an improvement in nearly 30 years of strained relations.

In his most direct public assessment of Mr. Obama and prospects for better ties, Ayatollah Khamenei said there could be no change between the countries unless the Obama administration put an end to hostility toward Iran and brings “real changes” in foreign policy.

“They chant the slogan of change but no change is seen in practice,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a speech before a crowd of tens of thousands in the northeastern holy city of Mashhad.

Still, he left the door open to better ties with America, saying “should you change, our behavior will change, too.”

In his video message, Mr. Obama said the United States wanted to engage Iran, but he also warned that a right place for Iran in the international community “cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization.”



Ayatollah Khamenei asked how Mr. Obama could congratulate Iranians on the New Year and accuse the country of supporting terrorism and seeking nuclear weapons in the same message.

“He insulted the Islamic Republic of Iran from the first day,” he said. “If you are right that change has come, where is that change? What is the sign of that change? Make it clear for us what has changed.”

I guess Ayatollah Khamenei doesn't have a crush on Obama. Apparently, he's not swept off his feet as easily as Chris Matthews.

Talking to Iran isn't as simple as putting out a videotaped message and slapping it up on YouTube. Obama's naïveté is showing.

I was surprised to hear Obama speak of terrorism.

Didn't he get the memo on his own administration's policy change?

No talk of terror. It's now "man-caused disasters," according to his homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano.