WSJ: Iran Sends Secret Letter to Obama
Iran's, ruling cleric, Ataytollah Ali Khamenei, recently sent a secret letter to President Obama responding to the president's letter to Iran last October, which sought to find common ground in the fight against the Islamic State, according to a report in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal.
The White House has declined to comment on the existence of such a letter from the Ayatollah. But the Journal quotes a diplomat who said the letter from Tehran was "respectful" but non-committal.
President Obama sent an earlier letter to Khamenei in 2009, shortly after he took office. The Journal article reported new details of that letter, including that the supreme leader outlined a list of supposed injustices committed by the United States against his country in the last 60 years.
Word of the latest letter comes as the White House pushes for a nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 nations, including the United States, by a March 31 deadline.
The White House and the Ayatollah have never officially acknowledged correspondence between the two leaders, but Ali Shamkani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council admitted last November, "The letters of the American president have a history of some years, and in some instances, there have been responses to those letters."
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to address Congress on March 3, has promised to do what he can to "foil this dangerous agreement," referring to the nuclear negotations with Iran.
Iranian leaders have repeatedly vowed to destroy the state of Israel.
