Kerry's Iran Visit Called Off Before Tehran's Rebuff

Annahar went out today with a distorted story that Iranian authorities denied Senator John Kerry a visa to visit the country as part of President Obama's engagement strategy.

علمت "النهار" من مصادر ديبلوماسية في بيروت ان طهران رفضت منح رئيس لجنة العلاقات الخارجية في مجلس الشيوخ الاميركي السناتور جون كيري تأشيرة دخول الى اراضيها بعدما افادت وزارة الخارجية الايرانية في وقت سابق أنها تدرس طلباً تقدم به كيري لزيارة الجمهورية الاسلامية.

They could have definitely done so. It is a move that was anticipated in many lines of the analysis/coverage of the reported visit possibility.
Kerry's people themselves went as far as denying the news of a planned visit to Iran.
However, the fact is that the word was spinning in Washington, in the aftermath of the Ashura demonstrations, in which eight opposition supporters were killed including opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi's nephew, that the Obama administration acknowledges now that it can't proceed with engagement as if nothing is taking place in the streets of Iran's big cities.
Hence, the visit which its news floated for a while, was taken off the table before even the Iranians rebuff it.
This is less than a change of policy. True. Nonetheless, it marks a remarkable adaptation on Washington's side, to the facts emerging in the streets of Iran.
The point of departure of such an adaptation process could be spotted in Obama's significant speech during his acceptance of the Noble Peace Prize on Dec 10.
The President addressed the Iranian people in an unprecedented direct manner since the crisis erupted more than 7 months ago:

to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets of Iran. It is telling that the leaders of these governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. And it is the responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear that these movements -- these movements of hope and history -- they have us on their side.

In fact, CNN reports back then that Obama departed from his prepared speech, replacing the original line "hope and history are on their side" to the what he said in Oslo, that "these movements...have us on their side".