Ahmedinejad responds to Obama

Iranian president Ahmedinejad, in response to Obama's April 1 speech calling for better relations, responded on April 15 with a speech in which he emphasized that the West was weak and could not force anything on Iran. According to MEMRI's translation, Iran's "demands included the withdrawal of Western forces, the destruction of the West's entire nuclear arsenal, and respect for Iran's right to its nuclear program."

However, there's no reason for despair, according to the U.S. State Department: a senior official described the 'contacts' recently proposed to Iran by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana as 'discussions' that will in turn provide an 'opportunity for serious negotiations.' This opportunity will in turn provide a 'possibility to solve the intricate problem... and then the joint work will begin, to deal with the international problem concerning Iran's nuclear program.'

I hope no one got lost in that maze. Especially since Solana and other EU senior officials have been negotiating with Iran since 2003 and have achieved precisely nothing.