Word: khamenei
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...reason for the ambivalence is wariness toward Obama's diplomatic overture. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently took note of Obama's kind words for Iran, but he questioned whether the new U.S. President was simply concealing an iron fist with a velvet glove. Although revolutionary ideology animates Iranian actions and rhetoric, Parsi believes that geopolitics is the main factor driving the Iranian regime's attitudes toward Israel and the U.S. In his book Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the U.S., Parsi details a 2003 peace plan in which Iran essentially agreed to abandon terrorism and support...
...They chant the slogan of change, but no change is seen in practice. We haven't seen any change.' Iranian Supreme Leader AYATULLAH ALI KHAMENEI, dismissing Obama's overture in a speech before tens of thousands in the holy city of Mashad...
...answer into the public realm, and the cold-water tone of that answer, may be aimed at a domestic audience, with the purpose of holding the line and preventing the new, more open U.S. posture from causing divisions within Iran's power structure. The fact that Khamenei emphasized Washington's continued "unconditional support" for Israel as among the examples of continued U.S. hostility underscores his domestic political intention. Previous diplomatic initiatives from Iran's leaders suggest that they don't seriously imagine that Washington will alter its support for Israel, but Khamenei, by citing one of the ideological pillars...
Ayatullah Khamenei appears to have been well briefed on some of the thinking in the Obama Administration on how to handle negotiations with Iran. "For you to say that we will both talk to Iran and simultaneously exert pressure on her, both threats and appeasement - our nation hates this approach," Khamenei said. That, of course, is precisely what has been advocated by some key voices in Washington, most notably Dennis Ross, recently named the State Department's top adviser on Iran. Ross and others have strongly argued that imposing harsher penalties on Iran is the key to changing its behavior...
...Khamenei appears to be signaling that he knows what Washington is up to - and that he has no intention of backing down. Thus the new diplomatic game between the U.S. and Iran: Neither side wants to negotiate from a position of weakness, which is why the U.S. is keeping in place, and trying to increase, its leverage in the form of economic pressure on Iran to desist from enriching uranium. But Iran sees the U.S. game plan and believes that Washington won't be able to muster the level of economic pressure necessary to force its hand...