Seasons greetings from the newly-elected US president were all well and good, but the signals coming out of Washington have been barbed every since, fumes Mohamed Hassan Khani Threatening Iran is an old habit of the United States. In fact it has been a long and familiar pattern of behaviour by the United States towards Iran in the past three decades. It was adopted by Washington from the very first day of the Islamic revolution in Iran which overthrew the best friend and ally of the US government in the heart of the Middle East. Since then Iranians got used to this kind of hostile language by the US which has been followed by actions on many occasions. Planning a military coup against the newly established revolutionary government in 1980 known as the Nojeh Coup, supporting Saddam Hussein in his bloody war against Iran, and shooting down an Iranian civilian airliner over the Persian Gulf and killing all its 290 innocent passengers are just a few examples of American hostility towards Iran. The main problem with this kind of approach towards Iran is that it has not worked so far and is not going to work in the future. Using threatening language and imposing sanctions have made Iranians more determined, helping them to become more powerful and more self-sufficient, and therefore less venerable. This is why Iranian officials, on many occasions, ironically thanked the US for this policy which served their cause in one way or another. Talking of "all options on the table" has also become another phrase repeated almost in every speech and interview by US officials in the past few years. None of these are new to Iranians but what was new was a friendly gesture by President Barack Hussein Obama who pledged change in the language and behaviour of the United States. Obama was the first US president who called the Iranian government by its official name, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Obama's nice words in his new year's message made many Iranians believe that there was a genuine willingness in Washington for change. This gesture, though symbolic, was too little too late to affect Iranian opinion of the US and totally disappeared in the stormy, hostile and harsh language that the White House adopted in dealing with post-election events. In fact it was a good test for the Obama administration to show how honest and genuine it was in its declared new approach, a test in which Obama surely failed, at least from the Iranian perspective. Now after a year of ups and downs in the turbulent relations between Iran and the US, it seems that things are worse than ever. Obama's remarks a few days ago on the possibility of resorting to nuclear weapons against Iran washed that glimpse of hope away and dramatically diminished the chance for any reconciliation between Iran and America. It is hard to imagine how Tehran could possibly be optimistic towards Washington's true intentions while hunting down Iranian scientists and military personnel. Encouraging them to defect or even kidnapping them has been officially declared as a top priority for the CIA. In the eyes of Iranians it is a classic example of hypocrisy by the Obama administration to extend, or better to pretend to extend, a hand of friendship towards Iran and at the same time continue these kinds of hostile behaviours towards the country. Iranian leaders compare US diplomacy to the behaviour of a wolf or a fox. Ayatollah Khomeini, the late founder of the Iranian Revolution, branded the United States as the Great Satan, and the state of relations between Iran and the US as relations between a wolf and a lamb, questioning the very logic and rationality behind any Iranian effort moving towards "lying down" together. Recently Iran's supreme leader called Obama's extended hand towards Iran an "iron hand concealed in a velvet glove". An essential requirement for any real change in the current situation is that Iranians witness and feel a real, honest and genuine change in the mindset, words, and actions of the United States towards Iran. For Iranians any policy falling short of this will be seen as either an opportunistic policy by the US, or simply a package of lies and threats attempting to either deceive or intimidate them. Erodgan at the opening ceremony of TRT Emergency solidarity
