A rare event is about to take place Within the next few weeks. The US and Iran will meet in Baghdad to discuss Iraq’s security. The talks would be held between the US ambassador in Baghdad and Iranian officials which would be the highest-level negotiations between the two countries in many years. Bowing to extensive pressure at home Mr. Bush has allowed this meeting to take place.

However, the news is not going down well with pro-Israel lobbyists. Already some politicians under the influence of Zionist lobby in Washington have expressed their reservations over any such move on part of Bush administration. They consider Iran more as part of the problem than the solution.

While attempting to sound candid and upfront these second grade
politicians, the most deadly specie in diplomacy, can nullify the effect of any ongoing attempt at rapprochement between two nations especially if the nations in question don’t have any enviable history of mutual relationship.

Devoid of insight and acumen required to speak on diplomatic issues suchbragging boobs are sure to further cloud the already foggy diplomatic scene and pull nations more apart. The US-Iran relations have all the ingredients to be explosive, unpredictable and unpalat-able to regional peace and security all depending upon the whims and fancies of the US leadership.

On the other hand contrary to the claims of the State department and
Pentagon, Iran has been consistent, regular and quite responsible regarding its dealings with international community at large as well as regional states in the neighbourhood.

The crux of the problem is that since the Islamic revolution of 1979 and the installation of Islamic democratic regime in Tehran, Iran has not been able to develop good, equitable and mutually beneficial relations with the US simply because of the fact that the US administration cannot live with the Islamic dispensation in Tehran compromising with its own secular democratic ideals once Tehran was bastion of in the Gulf. Tehran’s flare for independence, sovereignty and national integrity as a proud nation does not go well with the US jingoistic and adventuresome experimentalists in the White House.

Iran comes out as a handy target after Afghanistan and Iraq. With military presence in most countries surrounding Iran, the US hawks consider it life time opportunity to neutralise Iran and capture the Gulf to oversee forty percent of world oil flow in the next century to come. To do that the US must curtail Iran’s regional role hence its influence. Iran must back off from Lebanon and abandon Hezbollah and stop supporting Hamas albeit diplomatically. Nuclear issue and Iran’s meddling in Iraq are policy ruse to pressurise Iran into submission.

One hopes that new development would ease the tension to certain extent and open up a window of opportunity for two nations to develop sound relationship based on mutual respect to each other’s national interests, peace and security as well as free and fair development in science and technology. However, the events of past five years show that as long as President Bush is in office there is no hope for any scaling down of tension between Iran and the US.

Bush categorised Iran as part of the ‘axis of evil’ in 2002 and then the
following year he waged a war against Iran’s nuclear programme saying the US ‘would not tolerate’ an Iranian nuclear weapon.Although, the IAEA as well as the US have not been able to verify any attempt on part of Iran to divert its nuclear programme to military purposes, the US and its coteries in the West are unnecessarily increasing their pressure on Iran to abandon its enrichment programme.

This is despite the fact that in May, 2003 in Geneva through its ambassador, Javad Zaraf, Tehran approached the US through Zalmay Khalilzad, Bush’s special envoy to Afghanistan and mooted a proposal for general negotiations on weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and security, and economic cooperation.

In the proposal Iran even offered to support the Arab peace initiative tabled in 2002 and help to transform Hizbollah into a political party. Just to alleviate the Wester concern over its nuclear programme in December 2003 it signed the additional protocol to the non-proliferation treaty, which strengthens the International Atomic Energy Agency’s supervisory powers.

It is the only signatory country of the NPT that has signed so stringent protocol to open all of its nuclear sites for UN inspections at a very short notice and have got installed video cameras on sensitive sites. However, nothing is working with Mr. Bush who in his own right wants to compensate for the failures of other US presidents on Iran.

Mr Bush has already lost his case on Iran’s nuclear issue. It is only the procedural fight which is being fought at UN level. Iran is being accused of not respecting some UN resolutions, therefore, must be punished by slapping some kinds of sanctions on it. Whereas in reality no agency, not even IAEA been able to accuse Iran of disrespecting the NPT.

The UN resolutions were not passed because Iran had failed to comply with NPT. They were passed because Iran had refused to acknowledge the illegal demands of the UNSC asking Iran to suspend its enrichment programme.

In his latest revelation the IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has said that Iran cannot now be called upon to unlearn what it has learnt regarding uranium enrichment.

According to him “from a proliferation perspective, the fact of the matter is that one of the purposes of suspension (of uranium enrichment) — keeping them from getting the knowledge — has been overtaken by events,’ Suggesting a new approach in an article published in the New York Times last Tuesday he said ‘Until all outstanding verification issues are clarified, and the agency is able to verify the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme, the focus should be to stop them from going to industrial scale production,’ rather than expecting the Iranians to stop all enrichment.

Currently Iran is running 1600 centrifuges and is installing cascades of 164 centrifuges at the rate of one cascade about every 10 days. The IAEA official have confirmed that Iran is enriching to levels corresponding to fuel, which is under five percent refined for the U-235 isotope.

This miraculous breakthrough in nuclear technology in Iran has overtaken many issues and calls for new approach to handle Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran has already made it clear that any future negotiations and eventual deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme must acknowledge and accept Iran’s ability and right to carry out large-scale enrichment for civilian purposes. For that Iran may have to wait Bush out of his office.

Information

While attempting to sound candid and upfront these second grade politicians, the most deadly specie in diplomacy, can nullify the effect of any ongoing attempt at rapprochement between two nations especially if the nations in question don’t have any enviable history of mutual relationship.

 First appeared in Pakistan Observer on 21st May, 2007