Obama sent direct message to Iran's leader

An Iranian woman holds a picture of Neda Agha Soltan, who was killed while protesting in the streets of Tehran, during a demonstration in Stockholm today. The Swedish capital has seen daily protests by Iranians demonstrating against the outcome of the recent presidential elections. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images)

President Obama sent a direct message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei weeks before this month’s disputed election, Iranian sources told CNN today.

The letter requested dialogue and engagement between the two nations, CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour reported.

The sources said Khamenei has yet to reply to the letter, but nonetheless it “had set the negotiating table in order for both sides to sit around it after the election.”

Khamenei made an indirect reference to the letter in his sermon on Friday at Tehran University.

“The U.S. President said that we were waiting for a day like this to see people on the street,” the Iranian leader said. “Some people attributed these remarks to Obama and then they write letters to say we’re ready to have ties; that we respect the Islamic Republic and on the other hand they make such comments. Which one should we believe?”

One Iranian source said that the election dispute is wasting time on the issue of starting U.S.-Iranian negotiations.

The Iranian source said that before the election, “We thought President Obama would send congratulations to President Ahmedinajad” and his senior advisers had already prepared a response to the anticipated note, which never came.(Talk about wishful thinking.)

Well, perhaps if Iran had been more open about its elections process, if the results hadn't been so vehemently contested by candidates and voters alike, if the leaders had addressed the people's concerns, if hundreds of thousands of protesters hadn't taken to the streets for almost two weeks now, if Tehran hadn't turned into a burning and bloody battlefield of violent clashes between protesters and riot police, if civilians--including women and children--hadn't been wounded and killed, if the government hadn't ordered a ridiculous $3,000 "bullet fee" people must pay to recover the bodies of their loves ones, then, maybe that letter would've come.

Source: CNN
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