The possibility of easing tension between the US and Iran
Weekend talks between the US and Iran show Bush's shift to engagement.
By John Hughesfrom the March 14, 2007 edition
Page 1 of 2
PROVO, UTAH - "It may be an icebreaker." That is the way diplomats in Washington are describing the weekend regional talks in Baghdad that brought US and Iranian diplomats face to face for a hand-shake.
Though there have been no formal diplomatic relations between the two countries for years, messages have been quietly sent through backdoor channels for some time. Some have had marginally positive results, some have been rebuffed. But the weekend session in Baghdad was the first time in years that US and Iranian diplomats have met openly and officially, albeit within the framework of a regional gathering.
The hope now is that the Baghdad meeting of some 16 nations to discuss stabilizing Iraq will be succeeded in the next month by a meeting of these nations at the foreign minister level. That could find US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sitting across the table from her Iranian counterpart.
Conservatives within the Bush administration reject the prospect of serious negotiations with Iran until Iran renounces a nuclear program that they believe is designed to equip Iran with nuclear weapons. Other Republicans – former Secretary of State James Baker, for example – recommend dialogue with Iran to explore an easing of the tensions that have been growing between the two.
It would be fanciful to expect that the US and Iran are ready to engage in a grand strategic dialogue. Nor is there any public indication that Iran is willing to freeze its nuclear program in the manner that North Korea is supposedly ready to do after long negotiations that have included both threats and economic blandishments.
But there may be a prospect of Iran participating in some measures that would stabilize Iraq and speed the withdrawal of American troops. Iran clearly seeks to be a commanding influence in the Middle East. That would mean influence in Iraq as well. But a stable Iraq, with American forces departed, might fit better in Iran's plan than an Iraqi neighbor destabilized by civil war.
For instance, after the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, Iran found it expedient to cooperate with the US to oust the Taliban from Afghanistan. It feared instability in that country on its eastern border and arranged alliances between warlords that it backed in Afghanistan and the incoming US forces.
RSS feed
