Obama reaches out to Muslim world in Arab Television interview

"In all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith – and America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers – regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams," Obama said in the wide ranging interview.

The freshly minted president spoke about the prospects for peace between Israel and Gaza, the nuclear threat of Iran and the stake that America has in the overall well being of the Arab world. The president praised the people of Iran, but chided its government for stirring up trouble in the region.

"Iran has acted in ways that's not conducive to peace and prosperity in the region: their threats against Israel; their pursuit of a nuclear weapon which could potentially set off an arms race in the region that would make everybody less safe; their support of terrorist organizations in the past – none of these things have been helpful," Obama said.