Iranian People Caught in Crossfire of Dueling Messages

http://www.lobelog.com/iranian-people-caught-between-dueling-messages/

Iranian People Caught in Crossfire of Dueling Messages

Analysis by Farideh Farhi

HONOLULU, Hawaii, Mar 27 2013 (IPS) - Since Barack Obama became president of the United States, messages marking the Iranian New Year – Norouz – celebrated at the onset of spring have become yearly affairs. So have responses given by Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from the city of Mashhad where he makes a yearly pilgrimage to visit the shrine of Shi’i Islam’s eighth imam, Imam Reza.

This year, like the first year of Obama’s presidency, the two leaders’ public messages had added significance because of the positive signals broadcast by both sides after Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany met in Almaty, Kazakhstan in March. The second meeting is slotted to occur Apr. 6.