TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Friday that giving Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama was hasty and premature.

If this move was considered as a peaceful gesture in contradiction to belligerent policies adopted by Obama’s predecessors, Iran will support it, Mottaki told the Mehr News Agency.
The proper time for giving the prize is when foreign troops have withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestinians’ rights have been restored.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for ""his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,"" citing his fledgling push for nuclear disarmament and his outreach to the Muslim world.
Obama, a Democrat who took office as the first black U.S. president in January, has been widely credited with improving America's global image after the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush, who alienated both friends and foes with go-it-alone policies like the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq