Obama Extends Iran an Olive Branch on Videotape

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/world/middleeast/20iran.html
By REUTERS
Published: March 20, 2009
Reaching out to Tehran, Mr. Obama said: “This process will not be advanced by threats. We seek instead engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect.”
He said the United States wanted Iran to take its “rightful place in the community of nations” but insisted that Tehran would have to do its part to achieve reconciliation.
“You have that right — but it comes with real responsibilities, and that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization,” Mr. Obama said.
“And the measure of that greatness is not the capacity to destroy, it is your demonstrated ability to build and create,” he added, alluding to Iran’s contested nuclear program and its missile development efforts.

The president’s videotaped appeal to Iran offered to turn the page on decades of United States policy toward a country America has long been at odds with.