Iranian expats in US cheer fantastic Obama speech
Anik Arakel let out a heartfelt sigh of happiness as she listened to US President Barack Obama wishing the Iranian people “Eid-eh Shoma Mobarak” as they celebrate Nowruz, the Persian new year.
“Wow … that’s really nice, fantastic,” she said from her home in California, where she has lived for nearly 30 years.
“‘Shoma’ means ‘you guys’ and ‘mobarak’ means ‘congratulations’,” she explained after watching the video-taped message on the White House website.
“Every US president since, I think, Ronald Reagan, has done this. They’ve always mentioned and congratulated Iranians on our new year, but never quite like this,” Arakel said.
Reagan was elected to his first term in office in 1980, the year Washington and Iran broke off diplomatic ties.
Since then, relations between the two countries have gone steadily downhill, and Obama sought in his Nowruz message to slash through the decades of distrust and animosity with a direct appeal to the Iranian people for “renewed exchanges among our people.”
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