President Barack Obama spoke of “a new day” for American-Iranian relations in a videotaped message released on the Internet last Friday. He spoke of a “common humanity” that binds the two peoples together, using the occasion of the Islamic New Year, or Nowruz, to try to reconcile with Iran.

According to the International Herald Tribune, Obama’s use of the term “mutual respect” is a code word of sorts signifying the new administration’s intent to break with the Bush administration and its labeling of Iran as part of an “axis of evil.”

Obama’s reference to Iran as “the Islamic Republic” in his speech and the fact that he addressed the Iranian leadership, not just the people, says the New York Times, indicated an acceptance of, and willingness to negotiate with, the current regime.

Judging by Iran’s response, however, the overture has been an embarrassing failure. In his speech Friday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad simply ignored the U.S. president’s remarks. He said world powers had now been persuaded that they could not block Iran’s nuclear progress.

On Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there would be no changes in U.S.-Iranian relations unless President Obama ends American hostility toward Iran and makes “real changes” in U.S. foreign policy. “They chant the slogan of change but no change is seen in practice. We haven’t seen any change,” he said.

According to Khamenei, President Obama has “insulted” Iran from the very first day he stepped into office. “If you are right that change has come, where is that change?” he asked.

According to the U.S. president’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, further steps to entice Iran to engage in dialogue have been planned. Asked whether a second step had already been planned out, he responded: “[T]here are many more ….”

Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton believes that Iran will ultimately negotiate—though his reasoning is very different from that of the U.S. government:

The Nowruz video reflects the dominant view within the Obama administration that its “open hand” will be reciprocated. It’s likely Iran will respond affirmatively to the near-plaintive administration requests to “engage.”And why not? Such dialogue allows Iran to conceal its true intentions and activities under the camouflage of negotiations, just as it has done for the past six years with the EU-3. What’s more, Iran will see it as confirmation of U.S. weakness and evidence that its policies are succeeding.

That’s all appeasement ever does. It tells the aggressive nation that what it is doing is working, and it gives it more time to do it.

Iranian elections will take place in June. Many in the West hope that a more moderate president will take the place of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This type of appeasement, though, just helps Ahmadinejad. If the Iranian people see that their hard-line leader is forcing America to capitulate, they will be less likely to vote in a more moderate candidate.

Of course, the real power in Iran is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But, by capitulating, the U.S. is simply showing Khamenei that an antagonistic, hard-line approach works.

Obama’s video message, and any ensuing negotiations, will just make Iran pushier. For more information on Iran’s future, read our booklet The King of the South.