On a conference call this afternoon, a reporter asked for a senior Obama administration official's reaction to an Iranian spokesman's statement that "Iran regards the U.S. government's policy of surging forces as following Bush policy and that they see no change in U.S. policy…" The administration official replied: "One reason that this policy may seem to Iran as consistent with previous policies is that it is founded on the same national interest and that is that fundamentally at the very core of this is the U.S. national interest to protect America and America's allies. And the threat that emanates from this region, [that] centers on al Qaeda, persists. So that's why it's easy to understand Iran's perspective, perhaps, that there's some continuity here in U.S. policy. That's because the interest is consistent."