Hardliners Assail U.S.-Iran Thaw From Both Sides
By Ladane Nasseri - Nov 6, 2013
Preparing for Iran’s annual rally to mark the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy, Mostafa Afzalzadeh said he wouldn’t let recent overtures between the countries stop him from attending and chanting “Death to America.”
“These games won’t fool people,” said Afzalzadeh, a documentary filmmaker, in a phone interview last week. The comment found an echo in Washington, where Senator Mark Kirk was among lawmakers saying sanctions on Iran need to be tightened regardless of talks due to resume in Geneva tomorrow, and the administration’s pleas to give them time. “It just seems a long rope-a-dope,” said Kirk, an Illinois Republican.
Since Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani visited New York in September, the two countries have held their highest-level contacts in decades and welcomed a new seriousness in nuclear diplomacy. Optimism over a thaw helped push oil to a five-month low. Yet in both countries there’s opposition to the détente that has the potential to derail it.
That was especially visible in Tehran on Nov. 4 at one of the biggest anti-U.S. protests in years, where demonstrators burned American flags. In the buildup, posters appeared around the capital showing a U.S. negotiator holding a shotgun under the table, or a Doberman on a leash.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-05/hardliners-assail-u-s-iran-thaw-from-both-sides.html
