Azerbaijan, Baku, May 23 /Trend, T.Konyayeva/
U.S. President Barack Obama has not touched upon issues relating to Iran in his speech because the Iranian issue would be another useless repeat in a series of recent statements on Iran, said the head of the American-Iranian Council Hooshang Amirahmadi.
"He [Obama] decided not to because it would be a repeat, would be a useless repeat of saying the same over and over again, Amirahmadi told Trend in a telephone conversation from Washington. And there is no point in it. So, he decided that he should just to make a quick response to Iran and move on."
Last week, May 19, Obama delivered a speech at the Department of State regarding the situation in the Arab countries of Middle East and in North Africa, without touching upon the issues relating to Iran.
In his speech, Obama said that the Syrian people have shown their courage in demanding a transition to democracy. President Assad now has a choice: he can lead that transition, or get out of the way.
"Thus far, Syria has followed its Iranian ally, seeking assistance from Tehran in the tactics of suppression, said the President. This speaks to the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime, which says it stand for the rights of protesters abroad, yet suppresses its people at home."
Obama said that U.S. opposition to Iran's intolerance - as well as its illicit nuclear program, and its sponsorship of terror - is well known.
The U.S. President also mentioned Iran in that part of his speech in which he talked about Bahrain. "Bahrain is a long-standing partner, and we are committed to its security, he said. - We recognize that Iran has tried to take advantage of the turmoil there, and that the Bahraini government has a legitimate interest in the rule of law."
In addition, initially it was supposed that Obama's speech will focus on the Arab world, not Iran, Amirahmadi said.
"Obama was not supposed to include non-Arab countries in the speech he began with, Amirahmadi said. - His speech was focused particularly on Egypt and Arab-Israeli conflict. Obviously, it is very strange that he didn't even mention Saudi Arabia."
Obama's speech at the Department of State has long been announced as the keynote address on Washington's policy in the Middle East after protests in the Arab world, which led to the overthrow of the leadership in Tunis and Egypt, and grew into an uprising against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and affected many other Arab countries, especially Syria, Yemen and Bahrain.
In his speech, Obama promised large-scale economic aid to Tunisia and Egypt - two countries where the Arab revolution won. In particular, he proposed to write off most of the Egyptian debt to the United States.
Also during his speech, Obama touched upon the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He became the first U.S. President, who said that the future Palestinian state should be established within the borders established before 1967.
"Ultimately, it is up to Israelis and Palestinians to take action. No peace can be imposed upon them, nor can endless delay make the problem go away, he said. But what America and the international community can do is state frankly what everyone knows: a lasting peace will involve two states for two peoples."