Did Tehran really rebuff Obama?

President Obama's Norooz message "initiated a much needed direct conversation between Iran and the U.S," writes  Dr. Farideh Farhi.  Some western reports characterized Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s response as a rebuff, but in a memo for the Ploughshares-funded National Iranian American Council, Farhi says that the speech reflected Tehran's openness to improved relations if Washington changes its approach. Farhi argues, “Ayatollah Khamenei's speech should not be seen as a rebuff but a carefully calibrated attempt to shape the debate in Washington on how to go about talking to Iran.”