iran letter to bush: condi's reaction

FYI.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent the first official correspondence from an Iranian head of state to an American president since the 1979 hostage crisis, writing of "an ever-increasing global hatred" of the United States.

Among other topics covered in his missive, Ahmadinejad questioned why "any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat to the Zionist regime."

Iran's lead nuclear negotiator spun the letter, describing it as a surprising new effort at diplomacy between Iran and the U.S.

But American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice blasted the attempt, saying that the writing offered no kind of response at all to the central question at the heart of the conflict between the two nations: What are Iran's true nuclear intentions?

"This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort," Rice told the Associated Press. "It isn't addressing the issues that we're dealing with in a concrete way."

The letter made only an indirect reference to Iran's nuclear intentions - but it was full of scorn for the United States and the Bush administration in general. It accused the U.S. media of slanted reporting on the Iraq war and U.S. support for Israel, while it questioned American judgment regarding the Iraqi invasion.

"Would not your administration's political and economic standing have been stronger?" the letter said. "And I am most sorry to say, would there have been an ever-increasing global hatred of the American government?"

Meanwhile, Rice asserted that while it lacked some of the usual rhetoric and vitriol usually coming out of Tehran, the message would do nothing to affect the status of the dangerous standoff between the two countries - one that could potentially threaten global stability.

"There's nothing in here that would suggest that we're on any different course than we were before we got the letter," Rice told the AP.

According to the news service: "Even though the letter hardly touched on nuclear issues, officials said it appeared timed with a push by the United States and its European allies for a Security Council vote to restrain Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Both China and Russia are opposed to leveling sanctions against Iran and the letter could provide them support."

The letter was a drastic change from the fiery rhetoric Ahmadinejad has used up to this point to attack the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East.

However, in an interesting twist, one of the Iranian leader's own conservative legislators blasted the letter as something of a maverick action, saying Ahmadinejad never consulted his own parliament before deploying his communication.

"This message is the outcome of a series of taboo-breaking behaviors in Iran's foreign policy ... That the parliament is not aware of (the contents of the) letter is questionable," Hashmatollah Falahatpisheh told an open session of the parliament broadcast live on state-run radio Tuesday.

Oil climbed to $71.15 from a low of $68.25 yesterday, when oil traders were optimistic that the U.S. and Iran could reach a diplomatic resolution regarding Iran's nuclear agenda. The renewed tension also spurred gold to $700 an ounce.