Obama Calls Iran’s Support of Hezbollah “Unacceptable”

In his first public address on the subject of Lebanon since his election on 4 November, United States president-elect Barack Obama said the Islamic Republic of Iran’s support to Hezbollah as well as to the Palestinian movement was “unacceptable.” The future head of the White House made remarks in this regard during a program on his intended policy with respect to Iran.

Obama notably highlighted in this plan that he intends to offer “carrots and sticks” to Iran to convince this country to renounce nuclear arms, all while confirming that he plans to negotiate directly with Tehran.

“We must put in place a firm but direct diplomacy with Iran,” Obama said in an interview with television station NBC. Obama, who takes office on Jan. 20,, was confident about reminding Iran that its nuclear program was “unacceptable,” as is the support that it gives to Islamist movements such as Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as its “threats against Israel.”

Obama, whose proposal to conduct direct diplomacy with Iran would end 30 years of dialogue of the deaf between the two countries, promised “a series of carrots and sticks to change their calculus about how they want to operate.”

In terms of “carrots,” the future head of state cited economic and commercial incentives. On the “stick” side, he suggested tightening international sanctions against Iran, notably with the collaboration of Tehran’s major commercial partners China, India, and Russia.

“But we are willing to talk to the Iranians directly and to give them a clear choice to let them make a determination whether they want to do this the hard way or the easy way,” he said. For her part, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice believed that diplomacy remained the best way to convince Iran to renounce its nuclear program. Interviewed on Fox News, Rice observed that “Iran was more and more isolated and the international community more united than ever with respect to the Iranian program.”

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammad el-Baradei hoped, for his part, that Obama would engage in direct negotiations with Iran with respect to its nuclear program. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, el-Baradei said he had strong hopes for achieving a settlement of the nuclear dispute between Iran and the Western countries, in spite of “the failure” seen to date.

Obama “is ready to discuss with his adversaries, including Iran and North Korea,” according to Mr. el-Baradei, underlining the failure of the policy of confrontation followed by the outgoing administration of President George W. Bush. “Continuing to bang your fist on the table while saying ‘I will not speak to you,’ while having a very condescending attitude, will only aggravate the problems,” he said.