In an interview with The New York Times published Sunday, President Barack Obama discussed Iran's continued hostility toward America and Israel as "complicated," part of a "deep mistrust that is not going to fade away immediately."
“I think that it’s important to recognize that Iran is a complicated country—just like we’re a complicated country," he said.
"There is no doubt that, given the history between our two countries, that there is deep mistrust that is not going to fade away immediately.”
“The activities that they engage in, the rhetoric, both anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, is deeply disturbing,” Obama added.
“There are deep trends in the country that are contrary to not only our own national security interests and views but those of our friends in the region, and those divisions are real.”
Despite the Iran's continued hostility, Obama defended the nuclear arms agreement as a "potential expression" of a "different type of a relationship" between the U.S. and "those forces within Iran that want to break out of the rigid framework that they have been in for a long time."
“It’s not a radical break," he conceded, "but it’s one that I think offers us the chance for a different type of a relationship, and this nuclear deal, I think, is a potential expression of that.”
For the rest of his remarks, watch the video below.
During ongoing nuclear talks with the White House, Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei led a crowd in Tehran in chanting “death to America,” MRCTV reported. He also casually asked his Twitter followers, “Why and how can #Israel be eliminated?” with a color-coated question-and-answer chart.
These are just two instances. Such rhetoric is commonplace in Iran. There’s nothing “complicated” about that.