In Case You Missed It: "It is a Question of Whether it is Tone or Substance ... So Far it Really has Been a Change in Tone."

In Case You Missed It: "It is a Question of Whether it is Tone or Substance ... So Far it Really has Been a Change in Tone."  

UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, Discusses Iranian President Rouhani's Recent Actions on UK's "Channel 4 News"

[Click here to read UANI's August 5 Op-Ed, "Rouhani's Head Fake," by Ambassador Wallace and Ambassador Mark P. Lagon.]

Channel 4 News London

September 19, 2013

JON SNOW, CHANNEL 4 NEWS: Is there even a smidgen of optimism in your mind? ...

AMBASSADOR MARK D. WALLACE, UANI: I think it is a question of whether it is tone or substance. I think if substance and concrete actions follow from the change of tone, I think we would all welcome that change in behavior. But so far it really has been a change in tone.

Certainly none of us wanted to suffer the bombastic, very hateful comments of President Ahmadinejad. And the new president, known as the "Diplomatic Sheik," is living true to his name by being very diplomatic and being very polite and courteous. But within those courteous remarks you are seeing the signs of a very similar policy as the Ahmadinejad administration.

Of course saying he's not a historian when it comes to whether or not the Holocaust existed--I don't think you need to be a historian to be able to say that the Holocaust did in fact occur. ...

WALLACE: We wrote an Op-Ed in early August [saying] that you would see certain signs, for example releasing a few political prisoners, taking a few actions to improve the human rights situation in Iran, even while numerous, numerous executions are occurring in Iran, hundreds of political prisoners remain. He is doing this as a show of good will and good faith to change the tone, but as I said it's really concrete actions that we're all looking for. ...

WALLACE: I'm hopeful, but I think we have to be realistic. Certainly, for those political prisoners that were released it is a tremendous, good thing, and I really celebrate it for their families as well. But hundreds more remain, there has been nearly an execution per day ...

President Obama has made it very clear that he is willing to engage Iran. He said it in his inaugural, and he has repeated it ever since. And to date the Iranians have refused those interactions. I hope that will change, but even when that meeting takes place, the question will become: is Iran going to change its negotiating tactics and be open to a deal?

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