March 20, 2009 11:32AM # Update: Obama on Iran By [Malou Innocent](https://www.cato.org/people/malou-innocent) --- SHARE In response to President [Obama’s video message](https://www.cato.org/2009/03/20/a-far-cry-from-axis-of-evil/) to the Iranian people this morning, Iranian presidential aide Aliakbar Javanfekr is [quoted](http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSTRE52J2DW20090320) as saying, “The Obama administration so far has just talked. By words and talking the … problems between Iran and America cannot be solved.” I wish we knew the reaction of Khamene’i, but I do find myself fearing that the CIA may continue its [major covert operations](http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/bush_authorizes.html) to undermine Tehran’s clerical regime. The administration has yet to repudiate this official policy. If Obama decides to repeal it, and dialogue with Iran falls through, Bush administration officials will trumpet that their policy could have had a chance to succeed. Obama may be in a tough spot, but history is on his side. As we witnessed in 1953 with the overthrow of Mossadegh, covert activities, at least in the long-term, hold no promise of achieving our desired objectives. ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Iran](https://www.cato.org/iran) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).