PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s message to Ali Khamenei, reportedly delivered by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, may not clinch a solution to Iran’s nuclear question overnight, but it could help defuse tension and lead to less war talk. Lately, according to American media reports, the Turkish prime minister conveyed to Ayatollah Khamenei President Obama’s message the gist of which made eminent sense: America had no objection to Iran’s nuclear programme if it were geared to peaceful purposes. More specifically, the American president wanted the Iranian spiritual leader to back up his public claim that his country would never pursue a nuclear programme for military purposes. Ayatollah Khamenei is on record as having denounced nuclear weapons several times. In an edict issued on Aug 9, 2005, he said the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear arms was forbidden in Islam. The International Atomic Energy Agency later released the text of the fatwa. Again, terming America as the only “atomic criminal”, the ayatollah told an international disarmament conference in Tehran in April 2010 that atomic weapons were ‘haram’. In fact even the threat to use such weapons, he said, was a violation of human rights. The spiritual guide repeated his views on nuclear arms before Nauroz in February, but evidently the American media didn’t give it the prominence it deserved.

President Obama’s message could have a positive effect on the talks between Iran and the P-5 plus one scheduled to begin on April 13. In view of the differences between Iran and Turkey on Syria and the missile shield, the talks are unlikely to be held in Istanbul. But the venue is less important; what is more important is that the two sides move away from rhetoric and make a serious effort to build upon the propitious atmosphere created by President Obama’s conditional ‘no-objection’ certificate. Already, there is no more tension in the Straits of Hormuz because the two sides have moved away from brinkmanship on an issue that is negotiable. America should note that Iran has multiple centres of power, and, therefore, what Ayatollah Khamenei says can be more important than what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does or says.