US President Barack Obama has asserted that his administration would continue to push for direct diplomacy with Iran despite the recent hate rhetoric coming from the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"There is no doubt that the kind of rhetoric you saw from Ahmadinejad is not helpful; in fact, it is harmful not just with respect to the possibility of US-Iranian relations, but I think it actually undermines Iranians' position in the world as a whole," Obama said in response to a question at a White House joint press conference with the King Abdullah of Jordan.
Obama was asked about Ahmadinejad's outburst and racial comments against Israel at the UN's recent anti-race conference in Geneva. The speech had resulted in immediate walk out by delegates from a number of European countries. The US had not participated in the conference.
"We weren't at the conference, and what you saw was a whole host of other countries walking out and that language being condoned by people who may be more sympathetic to the long-term aspirations of the Iranian people. So I think it actually hurts Iran's position in the world," Obama said.
At the same time, Obama said: "We are going to continue to take an approach that tough, direct diplomacy has to be pursued without taking a whole host of other options off the table."
After sworn in as the US President, Obama has been started a review of the US policy on Iraq and has been calling for direct engagement of Iran.
Sadly, Obama said the rhetoric is not new. "This is the kind of rhetoric that we have come to expect from President Ahmadinejad," he said.
"When I said, during the course of the campaign and repeated after the election, that we were serious about engagement with Iran, it was with no illusions. I was very clear that I found many of the statements that President Ahmadinejad made, particularly those direct with - directed at Israel, to be appalling and objectionable," Obama said.
Observing that Iran is a very complicated country with a lot of different power centers, Obama said, "The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini is the person who exercises the most direct control over the policies of the Islamic Republic, and we will continue to pursue the possibility of improved relations and a resolution to some of the critical issues in which there have been differences, particularly around the nuclear issue."
