Saying that it’s time for others to quit meddling in Iran’s political and social affairs, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for meetings with President Obama as his country seeks acceptance in the eyes of the world. “I will go to the United Nations and will invite Obama to negotiations,” Ahmadinejad said, adding that such talks would be “in front of the international media, not a sit-down behind closed doors in order to talk about matters.” Ahmadinejad has been roundly criticized by U.S. lawmakers, particularly conservative politicians, many of whom have even blasted Obama for his measured response to recent uprisings in Iran during the presidential election. For example, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have called “timid and passive” for not speaking out more forcefully about the arrests, violence and deaths of pro-democracy activists. But last week, the Obama administration said that it’s time for Ahmadinejad to work toward peace in Iran. “A sizable percentage of the Iranian people themselves … consider this election illegitimate,” he said at a White House news conference. “It is not too late for the Iranian government to recognize that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and prosperity.” Ahmadinejad has said he was shocked at the outside interference. “Didn’t he [Obama] say that he was after change?” Ahmadinejad asked Iranian judiciary officials in a speech last week. “Why did he interfere? Why did he utter remarks irrespective of norms and decorum?”

Weeks before the explosive elections in Iran, President Obama sent a message to the nation’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, requesting a personal meeting with him. Although Khamenei has not yet replied to Obama’s request, sources told CNN that Iran “had set the negotiating table in order for both sides to sit around it after the election.” The Obama administration, however, has declined to discuss the specifics “of our different ways of communicating,” CNN reports. “We have indicated a willingness to talk for a long time and have sought to communicate with the Iranians in a variety of ways,” a senior Obama administration official said. Speaking in the Iranian capital of Tehran Friday, Khamenei made an indirect reference to the letter. “The U.S. president said that we were waiting for a day like this to see people on the street,” the Iranian leader said. “Some people attributed these remarks to Obama, and then they write letters to say we’re ready to have ties, that we respect the Islamic Republic, and on the other hand, they make such comments. Which one should we believe?” An Iranian source told CNN, “We thought President Obama would send congratulations to President Ahmadinejad,” and before the election, his senior advisers prepared a response to the anticipated note, which never came.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson – no stranger to negotiating the releases of hostages from hostile lands – is proposing to go to Iran to try and win the freedom of a jailed American journalist. Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old South Dakotan who has been living in Iran since 2003, was accused of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison. “I would be anxious to travel with a delegation to Iran, if we are permitted, and make an appeal for her freedom,” the longtime civil rights activist said at a peace conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “Whenever we’ve brought people out of captivity, whether in Syria, Cuba, Iraq, or Yugoslavia, or Liberia, it’s always opened a diplomatic door to reduce tensions.” President Obama has denounced the Iranian courts for the one-day, closed-door trial that led to the sentence. Saberi’s attorney has promised to appeal the verdict. Jackson has a history of success in winning the release of American hostages. In 1984, he secured the release of a Navy pilot held in Syria; in 1991, he helped get 500 “international guests” freed from custody in Iraq; and in 1999, he convinced Yugoslavia to release three U.S. soldiers held there during the Kosovo conflict. Saberi has freelanced for several news organizations, including National Public Radio; she was also writing a book about Iranian culture.

The Muslim nation reportedly has been boasting about a new generation of weapons.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice fired a shot across Iran’s bow Thursday, warning the brazen nation that the United States will not sit idly as it rankles America’s closest ally in the region. Her warning to Iran came amid reports that the Muslim nation test-fired more long-range missiles in exercises designed to prove it can defend itself against the United States or Israel, Iranian state television reported Thursday. “We are sending a message to Iran that we will defend American interests and the interests of our allies,” Rice said Thursday in Georgia as she wrapped up three-day trip to eastern Europe. The Iranian broadcast said that the nation’s weapons – which include a new version of the Shahab-3, which officials have said has a range of 1,250 miles and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead – have “special capabilities.” The weapons also include missiles launched from naval ships in the Persian Gulf, torpedoes and surface-to-surface missiles. U.S. State Department officials have expressed concern that such weapons would put Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan all within striking distance.