We've Seen This Movie Before

President Ahmadinejad, no doubt scrambling to counter the emergence of Mohammad Khatami in the presidential race later this year, is now offering the United States a chance for ‘Dialogue With Respect’:

“The new U.S. administration has said that it wants change and it wants to hold talks with Iran,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said.

“It is clear that change should be fundamental, not tactical, and our people welcome real changes,” he said. “Our nation is ready to hold talks based on mutual respect and in a fair atmosphere.”

Mr. Ahmadinejad went on to say that Iran could cooperate with the United States to uproot terrorism in the region. “The Iranian nation is the biggest victim of terrorism,” he said.

But he referred to former President Bush as one of reasons for insecurity in the region and said, “Bush and his allies should be tried and punished.”

“If you really want to uproot terrorism, let’s cooperate to find the initiators of the recent wars in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region, try them and punish them,” he said.

His comments seemed to move away from an earlier call by Mr. Ahmadinejad for the United States to apologize for actions in the relationship with Iran dating back 60 years.

If all of this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because we've seen this song and dance before - from Khatami. Coming off of his resounding electoral win in 1997, then President Khatami spoke rather boldly of a dialogue between Iran and the United States as a gradual means to thaw the two nations' icy relationship.

Khatami's message and platform were both ultimately undermined by hardliners in the Majlis, and despite efforts at rapprochement from the Clinton administration, relations remain just as icy today as ever. Following Khatami's overtures, Clinton eased visa restrictions, pushed for ILSA waivers so that trade between Europe and Iran could loosen up, and in 1999, even came within a hair of outright apologizing to the Iranians for the coup of '53.

This has been a routine hangup between the two nations. Notions of mutual respect and dialogue are great and all, but they need to be measurable. You have to be able to list out substantive gestures so that items may be traded off in tit-for-tat fashion. Without that, all you get is empty grandstanding and talk.

As I've said many times here in the past, both sides are to blame for the current diplomatic mess we're in. But of the two sides involved, the least serious of the two has almost always been the Iranians.

Forget ''dialogue." Show me action.