Iranian voters’ voices should be heard: Barack Obama

Iranian voters’ voices should be heard: Barack ObamaBarack Obama

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama says the world is inspired by the outpouring of Iranian political dissent, but Sen John McCainJohn McCain said Obama isn’t speaking out strongly enough.

Obama said on Monday an inquiry into the disputed presidential election should go ahead without violence and said he didn’t know who rightfully won the Iranian balloting, but that Iranians have a right to feel their votes mattered. McCain, who lost to Obama in last year’s US presidential election, called on the president to turn up his rhetoric.

“He should speak out that this is a corrupt, flawed sham of an election and that the Iranian people have been deprived of their rights,” the Arizona Republican said on Tuesday on a network news show.

But the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee thinks the Obama administration’s arms-length stance is just right. “I think for the moment our position is to allow the Iranians to work out their situation,” said Sen Richard LugarRichard Lugar of Indiana. “When popular revolutions occur, they come right from the people.” He said he did not think it would be wise for the United States “to become heavily involved in the election at this point.” A spokesman for Iran’s Guardian Council had said earlier on Tuesday that it was ready to recount specific ballot boxes. The 12-member Guardian Council include clerics and experts in Islamic law.

Obama’s remarks marked the most extensive US response to Friday’s voting, and appeared calculated to acknowledge the outpouring of dissent in Iran without claiming any credit.

“It would be wrong for me to be silent on what we’ve seen on the television the last few days,” Obama told reporters at the White House. He added, however, that “sometimes, the United States can be a handy political football.”

The new American president is personally hugely popular in Iran, and all candidates in this year’s surprisingly lively presidential election backed off on criticism of the United States. But the larger idea of the United States — and its world influence, backed by massive military power — remains highly divisive. Any candidate or popular movement seen to have the express backing of the United States would probably be doomed.

“What I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy and optimism into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was,” Obama said. “And they should know that the world is watching.”

Lugar said if the U.S. tried to play a more aggressive role there, it’s likely the clerics would use pent up resentment of the United States there to consolidate their own power. “The clerics are in charge. They are the government. The election is interesting, but not decisive,” he said.

McCain said the Iranian people “should not be subjected to four more years of (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad and the radical Muslim clerics.”

Obama campaigned on a promise to extend a hand to the United States’ main rival for influence in the Middle East, and the prospect of a different relationship with the United States was a constant, if largely unspoken, theme in the hard-line Ahmadinejad’s contest with a pro-reform challenger.

Obama was asked whether the violence had changed his outlook on the value of outreach to the clerical regime. While denouncing violence against demonstrators, Obama said he remains committed to what he called “tough, hardheaded diplomacy” with a nation that could soon possess nuclear weapons.

The United States has a broader interest in stopping Iran from developing those weapons or exporting terrorism, Obama said.

“We will continue to pursue a tough, direct dialogue between our two countries, and we’ll see where it takes us,” he said.

The United States urged Iran on Monday to agree to a meeting with the six key nations trying to ensure that its nuclear program is peaceful. US deputy ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told the UN Security Council that Iran has not responded to the request from the five permanent council members — the US, Russia, China, Britain and France — and Germany for new talks, which would be the first international discussion on Iran’s nuclear program since Obama took office in January. “The United States remains committed to direct diplomacy with Iran to resolve issues of concern to the international community and will engage on the basis of mutual respect,” DiCarlo said. “The United States will be a full participant in these discussions and we continue to urge Iran to accept this invitation.”