President-elect Barack Obama has given his first press conference and confirmed that he had received congrats from the Iranian President (heavily criticized by the Majlis, by the way). In his further response to the specific question he re-iterated standard formulations from his campaign: “Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon, I believe is unacceptable. We have to mount international effort to prevent that from happening. Iran’s support of terrorist organizations, I think is something that has to cease.”

The next National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) is to be released soon. Mr. Obama had been briefed by the CIA immediately after his election. The previous NIE of November 2007 has stated that Iran’s clandestine program has been halted in 2003 and as of mid-2007 has probably not been revived. So, Obama might have received further information.

It is now high time for the leaders in Tehran to sign the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) giving the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) considerably greater rights of access of Iran’s suspect locations. Credibility is not gained by complaining about Mr. Obamas remarks as long as the new NIE report has not been released and Tehran does not allow inspections of its nuclear facilities on a short notice.