Letter from the Publisher
April 2009
We want to wish Iranians and all the nationals of many other countries that celebrate NOROUZ a very happy and New Year. The NOROUZ festival marks the spring equinox, and is also the start of the Persian calendar, which is the official calendar of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This year's holidays were as colorful and entertaining as ever, and were celebrated all over the world by Iranian expatriates. We hope that the Persian New Year will bring a year filled with peace, prosperity, and hope for a better future for all.
The President of the United States took the opportunity presented by NOROUZ to issue an unprecedented videotaped message to the leaders and people of Iran offering a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement to turn the page on 30 years of U.S. hostile policy towards America's longtime adversary. Barack Obama's message was a major shift from former President George W. Bush's isolation policy toward Iran, which he once branded as part of an "axis of evil". Obama’s extraordinary overture may have been serious, but it also came with caveats- demands of active change from the Islamic Republic as well. The reaction from the Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, came in a sermon, in which he described the move as "a slogan" meaningless without an accompanying shift in American policy and actions. Ayatollah Khamenei did however leave the door open towards negotiations. Most of the people of Iran want an end to their demonization and isolation, and have better relations with the United States. Even some officials in Tehran have commented that Ayatollah Khamenei's response was more of a rebuff and it could have been much more positive. After all change in behavior has to come from both sides for this engagement to move forward. We hope that these first steps will lead to an eventual rapprochement between Iran and America, but we all know that it will take time and delicate diplomacy to overcome decades of mistrust and antagonism.
The other major issue facing Iranians -and for that matter the West- is the upcoming presidential elections in June. Until just recently all eyes were on former reformist President Khatami, but he recently withdrew his candidacy in favor of Mir Hossein Mousavi, so that not to split the reformist vote. Many hope that Mousavi, who was once prime minister of the Islamic Republic from 1981-1989, can have a better shot at obtaining the reformist as well as the moderate conservative vote in Iran. Others are doubtful that this middle ground approach will be successful in shaking Iran's conservative establishment. There is also another reformist candidate in the race, former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi, who received a lot of support last time. So for the time being it is going to be difficult to predict who will eventually become the next president of Iran. We will literally have to wait and see what happens in June 2009.
