Iranian leaders dismiss Obama’s taped overture

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Iranian government brushed aside a Persian New Year’s message Friday from President Barack Obama offering to resolve years of hostility, saying it wants concrete change from Washington before it’s ready to enter a dialogue.

Obama released the video to coincide with the major Iranian festival of Nowruz, a 12-day holiday that marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year on the Persian calendar. In the video, which has Farsi subtitles, Obama said the U.S. is prepared to end the strained relations if Tehran tones down its combative rhetoric.

Israeli President Shimon Peres issued a rare Nowruz greeting of his own to Iranians, praising what he called “the noble Iranian people” in a message on Israel’s Farsi-language radio station, which broadcasts in Iran.

But Peres took a tougher tone in an interview to be aired to Iranians on the station Monday, strongly criticizing Iran’s hard-line leaders as “religious fanatics” and predicting that Iranians will overthrow them.

“I think that the Iranian people will topple these leaders,” Peres said in the interview, according to a transcript released Friday. “These leaders who don’t serve the people, in the end the people will realize that.”

Obama has repeatedly signaled a willingness to engage with Iran about its nuclear program and hostility toward Israel. At his inauguration, the president told rival states that his administration “will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

But Iranian leaders have not been as eager. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has criticized Obama, saying he would continue the policies of former President George W. Bush.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also has said Iran would welcome talks with the U.S. — but only if there was mutual respect. Iranian officials say that means Washington must stop accusing Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism, charges Tehran denies.

On Friday, an Ahmadinejad adviser played down Obama’s video, saying “minor changes will not end the differences” between Tehran and Washington.