Hillary gives Iran a pass on election crackdown.

While “deploring” the violence against the Iranian people following the contested re-election last month of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered Iran an olive branch yesterday during her long-awaited policy address yesterday at the Council of Foreign Relations.

She told the Council –

Neither the President nor I have any illusions that dialogue with the Islamic Republic will guarantee success of any kind, and the prospects have certainly shifted in the weeks following the election. But we also understand the importance of offering to engage Iran and giving its leaders a clear choice: whether to join the international community as a responsible member or to continue down a path to further isolation.

Direct talks provide the best vehicle for presenting and explaining that choice. That is why we offered Iran’s leaders an unmistakable opportunity: Iran does not have a right to nuclear military capacity, and we’re determined to prevent that. But it does have a right to civil nuclear power if it reestablishes the confidence of the international community that it will use its programs exclusively for peaceful purposes.

Iran can become a constructive actor in the region if it stops threatening its neighbors and supporting terrorism. It can assume a responsible position in the international community if it fulfills its obligations on human rights. The choice is clear. We remain ready to engage with Iran, but the time for action is now. The opportunity will not remain open indefinitely.

From the Iranian perspective, it is unlikely that this limited-time offer from the Obama Administration will be taken seriously.

Indeed, Ahmadinejad responded today by saying Iran would “strike its enemies in the face,” and again rejected pressure from the international community to  curb Iran’s “right” to develop nuclear power.

The question is, will the Clinton-Obama policy of turning the other cheek only make Israel, an Old Testament nation-state, more likely to take action on its own?

You can read the full text of Hillary’s address to the Council on Foreign Relations here.