Clone of Previous Reviews

Number 72 ● March 19, 2015 

The Nowruz, Obama, and Iran’s Nuclear Program

Shlomi Yass*

“Public diplomacy” refers to the efforts of governments to directly influence public opinion in other countries, in order to promote its own interests by influencing citizens rather than using force. This type of diplomacy has been an important component in the policy of US President Barack Obama towards Iran, and is an important tool for understanding the orientation of the US government towards Iran’s nuclear program.

Since he took office in 2009, Barack Obama has conscientiously sent festive greetings to the people of Iran every year on the Persian New Year, Nowruz, which is observed on March 21. The greetings are delivered via a video with Farsi subtitles, filmed at the White House. Their content reflects ongoing efforts to blunt the overt hostility that has characterized the relationship between the United States and Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and particularly since the presidency of George W. Bush. These efforts use public diplomacy to open mass media channels in a manner different from the previously accepted practices. The current survey reviews the transformation in President Obama’s annual Nowruz messages to the Iranian people, from 2009-2014, and the responses of senior Iranian officials to these messages, particularly as they relate to Iran’s nuclear program.

A prominent characteristic of the greetings delivered in 2009-2012 was the emphasis that the American president placed on internal Iranian issues, particularly the riots that broke out after the Iranian presidential elections in June 2009. In this series of greetings there is clearly great emphasis on the dismal state of human rights in Iran; they include biting criticism of the regime’s domestic policy, and Iran is depicted as living behind "an electronic curtain.” As will be evident from the content analysis below, the messages transmitted in 2013 and 2014 show a significant change, with the emphasis moving from issues related to Iran’s domestic policy to explicit comments on the nuclear program.

Target Audience and Rhetoric

The greetings of the American president to the Iranian people on the occasion of Nowruz can be divided into three periods, based on the main target audience to which they were directed. In 2009-2010, they were directed at the Iranian leadership; in 2011-2012, they spoke directly to the people of Iran. In the first greeting (2009) Obama began: “I would like to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The following year (2010), he stressed: “The leaders of Iran… have turned their backs on a pathway that would bring more opportunity to all Iranians.” In contrast, the central message of the third greeting in 2011 was aimed directly to the young people in Iran. In that message President Obama said, “Instead, you – the young people of Iran – carry within you both the ancient greatness of Persian civilization, and the power to forge a country that is responsive to your aspirations.” In 2012, he continued to address the young people of Iran directly, “America seeks a dialogue to hear your views and understand your aspirations.” In 2013-2014, the American president returned to focusing on the Iranian leadership. In 2013, he noted, “This is the choice now before Iran’s leaders. I hope they choose a better path — for the sake of the Iranian people and for the sake of the world.” The following year (2014), he stressed, “I have offered the Iranian government an opportunity — if it meets its international obligations, then there could be a new relationship between our two countries.”

The change in the target audience addressed by Obama in his greetings over the years was accompanied by a change in rhetoric. The messages directed towards the Iranian people, and especially to young people, were almost entirely coached in positive rhetoric. However, when the message was directed to the Iranian leadership a gradual intensification of the messages against that leadership is apparent from 2009 to 2012, and the gaps that remain between the two countries are emphasized. For example, in 2009 the US president noted that there are still “serious differences” between the two countries and continued “This process will not be advanced by threats.” In 2010, he said “Iran’s leaders have sought their own legitimacy through hostility to America.” He emphasized that when “faced with an extended hand, Iran’s leaders have shown only a clenched fist.” In 2011, Obama stepped up his criticism and claimed, “The Iranian government has responded by demonstrating that it cares far more about preserving its own power than respecting the rights of the Iranian people.” An even stronger tone was heard in his 2012 criticism of the regime that emphasized its efforts to disrupt radio and television broadcasts, censor the Internet and control the speech of Iranian citizens: “The regime monitors computers and cell phones for the sole purpose of protecting its own power.” The president’s rhetoric and criticism of the Iranian leadership was reversed and replaced with a more ameliorating tone in 2013-2014, particularly against the backdrop of the nuclear talks. For example, in 2013 Obama reminded listeners, “The United States, alongside the rest of the international community, is ready to reach such a solution.” A year later he continued by emphasizing, “Real diplomatic progress this year can help open up new possibilities and prosperity for the Iranian people.”

However, despite the changes in the US president’s Nowruz greetings, they all clearly point to the Obama administration’s preference for resolving the nuclear issue by diplomacy. In 2009, the message emphasized the administration’s commitment, “to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us.” Obama expanded on the issue again in 2010, stating that the offer to establish full diplomatic relations remained on the table. Despite describing the Iranian government as “rigid and unaccountable” in 2011, a year later he claimed there is, “no reason for the United States and Iran to be divided from one another.” Even in the exceptionally extensive comments on the Iranian nuclear program in 2013, it was made clear that “theUnited States prefers to resolve this matter peacefully, diplomatically.” In 2014 Obama confirmed, “I’m committed to diplomacy because I believe there is the basis for a practical solution.”

The Iranian Nuclear Program, Isolation and Sanctions 

President Obama’s increasing attention to the nuclear issue in last two years is particularly evident his use of the key words, “nuclear,” “isolation,” and “sanctions.” The word “nuclear” appeared only twice in the first four Nowruz messages, compared to 15 times in the last two years. In 2014, the president emphasized, “Together with the international community, the United States acknowledges your right to peaceful nuclear energy.” In 2012, he had limited himself to a laconic comment noting “The Iranian government… has a responsibility to meet its obligations with regard to its nuclear program,” but next two greetings related to the nuclear issue directly.

In 2013, Obama noted, “Iran’s leaders say that their nuclear program is for medical research and electricity. To date, however, they have been unable to convince the international community that their nuclear activities are solely for peaceful purposes.” Later in the greeting he continued, “if – as Iran’s leaders say – their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, then there is a basis for a practical solution.” In 2014, Iran’s nuclear program was the centerpiece of the US president’s Nowruz greeting: “For years, the international community has had concerns that Iran’s nuclear program could lead to Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon, which would be a threat to the region and to the world.” He then explained, “There is a chance to reach an agreement if Iran takes meaningful and verifiable steps to assure the world that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.”

“Isolation” appears only four times in the six greetings. In 2010, US president wrote, “It is the Iranian government that has chosen to isolate itself, and to choose a self-defeating focus on the past over a commitment to build a better future.” In 2013, he said, “if the Iranian government continues down its current path, it will only further isolate Iran.”

The word “sanctions” was used only twice. In 2012 Obama noted, “And even as we’ve imposed sanctions on the Iranian government, today, my Administration is issuing new guidelines to make it easier for American businesses to provide software and services into Iran that will make it easier for the Iranian people to use the Internet.” In 2014, he stressed, “Along with our international partners, the United States is giving Iran some relief from sanctions.”

The exceptional increase in the number of times the president used the word “nuclear” in last two years might be seen as acknowledgement by the Obama administration of the reality of the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, particularly considering that 2014 was the first time he explicitly mentioned “nuclear weapons,” and he mentioned them twice.

Conversely, the context in which the words “isolation” and “sanction” were used is less clear. The texts themselves do not clarify what kind of isolation or what other types of sanctions can be imposed, or what might happen if an agreement is not reached.

Reactions in Iran

Top Iranian leaders received President Obama’s first Nowruz greeting in 2009 with a certain degree of surprise, and responses soon followed. The Press TV website reported the greeting in an article headlined, “Obama scores points with Iran message,” and included a link to the video on the White House website (Press TV, March 20, 2009). The day after the greeting was broadcast, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded in his annual address in Mashhad, “They [the Americans] chant the slogan of change but no change is seen in practice,” and urged the US president to clarify, “If you are right that change has come, where is that change? What is the sign of that change? Make it clear for us what has changed.Even the language remains unchanged” (the Guardian, 21 March 2009). A more diplomatic tone was sounded by then Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki who responded, “It is nice that Nowruz is used as an occasion for messages of peace and friendship – but as far as other aspects (in the message) are concerned, they are under evaluation” ‎(Press TV, March 20, 2009). ‎ Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s press advisor at the time also related to the greeting, “If Mr. Obama takes concrete action and makes fundamental changes in U.S. foreign policy towards other nations, including Iran, the Iranian government and people won’t turn their back on him” (Xinhua News Agency, March 20, 2009).

In later years, Obama’s greetings were received more strident responses that spoke of American aggression. In 2010, Ayatollah Khamenei again related to the greeting in his annual address in Mashhad, “You cannot speak about peace and friendship while plotting to hit Iran…We said that if they are extending a metal hand inside a velvet glove, we won’t accept” (The New York Times, March 21, 2010). A year later, it was President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who responded. In a speech given in Kermanshah, he called the message an “insult”: “Undoubtedly, your Nowruz message is an insult to the Iranian nation. While threatening the Iranian nation in the message, you have again exposed your ugly pretense from behind the mask of deceit” (Press TV, April 7, 2011).

In 2012, Khamenei said, “Anyone who thinks that the United States would go retreat from its enmity towards us if we forgo our nuclear program, is mistaken” (Asharq Al-Awsat, March 21, 2012). The following year, the Iranians’ response came from nuclear negotiatorSaeed Jalili, during a round of negotiations in Kazakhstan: “The message delivered by President Obama for Nowruz… the gentleman at the end read a poem by Hafez. The poem says you should plant saplings of friendship and uproot the trees of enmity.” Jalili then emphasized, “I believe the message of the poetry given to the President by the …Iranian people [is that] the [hostile] behavior in the past has produced nothing” (Al-Monitor, March 21, 2013). In 2014, Khamenei again responded to the moderate presidential message with a hostile tone, calling the United States an “enemy” and a “dictatorial and arrogant power” (Christian science Monitor, March 21, 2014)

On March 21, 2015, US President Obama is expected to broadcast his seventh greeting to the people of Iran in honor of Nowruz. Analysis of the greetings to date shows that the American government has clearly chosen the path of apologetic, public diplomacy rather than hostile rhetoric that could be seen as paving the way to a military solution. Considering the many efforts that the Obama administration has invested in negotiations, it is unlikely that there will be, at this stage, a significant change in the message. A senior aide, Ben Rhodes clearly stated the administration’s guiding principle for dealings with the Iran in an interview with an Israeli news outlet, “There is no doubt that nuclear weapons in the hands of a country like Iran is a very serious threat [but] from our perspective this is a very different threat than ISIS, because it is possible to deal with Iran through diplomatic channels which is not possible in the case of ISIS” (Nana10, October 1, 2014).

In conclusion, in his recent address to the US Congress Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Iran needs to reach an agreement more than the United States does (channel 7, March 3, 2015). President Obama’s upcoming Nowruz greeting may give an additional indication as to which side needs an agreement more urgently at this time, the US administration or the Iranians■

* Shlomi Yass holds an MA in Government Counter-Terrorism and Homeland ‎Security and is an intern at the Military and Strategic Affairs Program (INSS)‎‏.‏