“A government that treats its own citizens with that kind of ruthlessness and violence and that cannot deal with peaceful protesters who are trying to have their voices heard in an equally peaceful way I think has moved outside of universal norms,” Obama said at a June 26 news conference with Merkel.
“I’m surprised at Obama,” Ahmadinejad said. “He said he wanted to speak to Iran, and we said we are ready, but with this rhetoric? The mask is now dropped and the Iranian people, the world’s people, know they are the same. There is no change.”