Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Graphic: MGN Online

Announcing the long-anticipated appointment, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Mr. Ross would offer “strategic advice” and perspective on the region, coordinate new policy approaches and take part in “inter-agency activities.”

“It would have been so much better to pick Ariel Sharon or Ehud Olmert as special envoy to Iran,” joked Kazem Jalali, a conservative member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran’s Parliament.

“The appointment of Dennis Ross, whose track record shows his unacceptable radical viewpoints about Iran, is inconsistent with Mr. Obama’s claims about his willingness to create change in Iran-U.S. relations and contains no positive messages for Iran,” Mr. Jalali said in a telephone interview from Tehran.

Mr. Ross, who is currently a counselor at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, served as the point person on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in the Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush administrations. He has advocated tough policies to force Tehran to halt its nuclear program, which Iranian authorities have repeatedly said is for peaceful purposes.

Mohammad Abtahi, a former deputy to President Mohammad Khatami, believes that Iranians must face this appointment cautiously. “Difficult circumstances are shaping up for Iran, as though everything is heading toward a final ultimatum,” Mr. Abtahi, a moderate ranking cleric in Tehran said in an interview. “I think things are heading toward a point where a unanimous confrontation of Iran may coalesce.”

Sadegh Zibakalam, a political analyst at Tehran University, said he was not surprised by the appointment. “You will find few political figures within the U.S. foreign policy establishment who have a background of friendship or a positive outlook toward Iran,” Mr. Zibakalam said in a telephone interview.

Since Mr. Obama’s election, many right-wing politicians in Iran have argued that there is no real difference between George W. Bush and the new president, save for their rhetorical tones. They believe Mr. Bush was plotting a military overthrow of the current Iranian regime headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while President Obama is pursuing more of a “velvet revolution.”

“Some people in Iran or in the Middle East may be under the impression that Obama’s promise of change in U.S. foreign policy may have a far reaching extent,” said Elaheh Koolaee, a former member of Parliament and professor at Tehran University.

“Mr. Ross’ appointment shows a continuation of existing U.S. foreign policy in the region, not a change,” she said.

Mr. Ross is the third appointee on the Persian Gulf region, including Iran and southwest Asia, after former Sen. George Mitchell, who was appointed special envoy to the Middle East, responsible for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and experienced diplomat Richard Holbrooke, appointed as special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Professor William Beeman, a specialist in Middle East Studies at the University of Minnesota, thinks Mr. Ross’ anti-Iran background could be an obstacle to initiating constructive talks. “It is widely known that he is unacceptable to Iran, and no one believes that he can advance U.S.-Iranian relations,” Prof. Beeman said, adding that, “He is signatory to the Project for a New American Century, which called for the invasion of Iraq in the 1990s, and a consultant to the AIPAC-supported Washington Institute for Near East Policy.”