Ahmadinejad aide slams Obama for hollow promises

A senior Iranian official has lashed out at US President Barack Obama for his failure to fulfill the promises of change he made during his campaign for the Oval Office.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s senior aide Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi said that US policies during the Obama administration were sometimes worse than “the dark era of [former president] George W. Bush.”

“Today we witness that the US is increasing the number of its forces in Afghanistan and Iraq instead of withdrawing its troops from these countries and is behind the massacre of people and the expansion of poverty in these countries more than before,” Samareh Hashemi told the Arab language Al-Alam news channel.

He noted that Tehran expects Obama to “rectify the dark Bush-era policies toward the Iranian nuclear program and give up confronting the Iranian nation.”

The remarks came after the US president repeated his symbolic offer of dialogue with Tehran, without specifying what concessions Washington is actually prepared to make.

“We are working with the international community to hold the Iranian government accountable because they refuse to live up to their international obligations,” said President Barack Obama in a Nowruz message released on Saturday. “But our offer of comprehensive diplomatic contacts and dialogue stands.”

In response to Obama’s message, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Sunday the actions of the United States run counter to its call for establishing amicable relations with Iran.

“The new [US] administration and president claimed interest in just and fair relations; they wrote letters and sent messages … saying they are willing to normalize relations with the Islamic Republic, but in practice they did the opposite,” the Leader said in a Nowruz address to Iranians in the holy city of Mashhad.

Samareh Hashemi went on to say that if the US wants to have a positive interaction with Iran, it should do so based on “justice and mutual respect.”

“If they (the Americans) give up their hostilities [towards Iran] and recognize the rights of the Iranian nation … it is natural that there will not remain any problem and positive and constructive interactions will take place between the two countries,” he added.

Samareh Hashemi also accused the US of meddling in internal affairs of Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that Washington should put an end to its “aggressive policies” toward other nations.