Jason Rezaian
Washington Post ^[1]
Feb 10, 2013

TEHRAN — Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated Sunday his desire to engage in direct talks with the U.S., on one condition.

“Take your guns out of the face of the Iranian nation and I myself will negotiate with you,” he said at an event attended by tens of thousands of Iranians in Tehran’s Azadi Square.

Ahmadinejad delivered his eighth and final annual speech to commemorate Iran’s 1979 revolution amid a range of challenges from his domestic opponents as well as international pressures, which have resulted in tough economic sanctions over the country’s nuclear program.

After a week in which the president publicly battled with his main political rival, saw one of his Cabinet members impeached, another ally jailed and became Iran’s first president in three decades to visit long time adversary Egypt, Ahmadinejad had plenty of potential material for his speech, but he hinted that Sunday’s event was one of celebration and not the place to publicly air frustrations.

Full article here ^[1]