We’d like to join the President in his Happy Nowruz wishes. But as we watch him briefly yet poignantly remind us of the greatness of Iran’s ancient civilization, we cannot but be reminded of the fact that such greatness today clashes with the brutality of Iran’s regime, its backwardness, and the misery it inflicts on its people.

An Iranian-American journalist — held in Tehran in solitary confinement now for 47 days — has reportedly been broken by Iranian prison brutality. A blogger whose crime was to have “insulted” the Supreme Leader, is reported to have died in prison. Iran recently televised the government blinding of a man by means of sulfuric acid poured on the eyes. Hangings continue, making Iran a leader in the number of yearly executions carried out, including the gruesome sub-category of child executions.

A great civilization does not commit such atrocities. We hope President Obama never forgets this, as his dialogue with Tehran begins.