IRAN SAYS WASHINGTON NOT READY FOR DIRECT TALKS
By IPS Diplomatic Correspondent Nina Kamran
LONDON 23 Mar. (IPS) Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations Hadi Nezhad-Hosseinian accused Wednesday the United States of undermining Iran’s efforts to open direct talks between the two sides, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
"Iran’s UN Ambassador Hadi Nezhad Hosseininan blasted the U.S. stances against Iran and said the former has not been much decisive to hold direct talks and despite explicit offers, it is not ready for the talks", the official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted the Iranian Envoy to the UN as having said.
This is the first time ever that Iran has admitted that not only it was ready for holding direct negotiation with Washington it continues to denounce as the "great Satan" dedicated to fight Islam as well as the Islamic regime of Iran, but also that it was the other side that undermined the Iranian efforts.
Addressing Iranian and American students, professors, researchers and experts, Mr. Nezhad Hosseinian also accused the U.S. for not showing goodwill for talks with Iran, according to IRNA.
His statement was in total contradiction of the Iranian official policy towards Washington, as stated and formulated by Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, a staunch opponent of the West, but particularly the United States he routinely describes as "the enemy".
"Some ask whether insufficient progress in Iran-U.S. ties have been due to Washington's opposition against Islam or Iranian people's choice of their own system of government, said Nejad-Hosseinian, adding that although response to the question is to some extent ambiguous, but given official statements of several US presidents, one should take a negative response to the question".
Besides controlling directly the Judiciary, the Armed Forces, the security and intelligence services and the Radio and Television among other institutions of the State, Ayatollah Khameneh'i also "guides" the regime’s foreign policy.
Informed Iranian sources said it was of the fear of the angry reaction of the leader and the serious backlash on him and the reformists that the Iranian President Mohammad Khatami had refused to be present as the "family photo" of the Heads of states and Premiers who took part in the last UN General Assembly’s "millennium" session, dashing hopes for a possible hand shake with the former US President Bill Clinton.
[According to Dr. Kaveh Afrasiabi, one of several prominent Iranian in the United States working for rapprochement between Tehran and Washington, both presidents had agreed to have a "sudden shake hand" and exchange some words, but the leaking of the plan to a London-based Arabic newspaper (the Saudi-controlled al Hayat) dashed all hopes.
"Clearly, it had suddenly dawned on Khatami that he may be fated to the same destiny as (Mehdi) Bazargan (Iran's first post-revolutionary Prime Minister), therefore the only remedy was to neutralise the avalanche of hard-liners' criticisms by adopting a Khameneh'i-like stance on issues.
"This was a complete surprise to this author, who knew that the Clinton Administration will be very dismayed since President Clinton had consented to the close encounter with Khatami only on the condition that he refrains from criticizing the U.S. But, while Khatami had kept his words at the UN, he eschewed it the next day, as if what he said in one forum was unrelated to another forum. Indeed, this was a sobering lesson not just for Khatami but for all of us. One thing was clear, however: the hard-liners from Foreign Ministry accompanying Khatami were giving him bad advice and were anathema to his diplomacy"], Dr. Afrasiabi wrote in an article published in the Iranian internet web site "Peyvand".
However, Mr. Nezhad Hosseinian said that under present circumstances, the expectation for direct talks on such thorny issues as the peace process, terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is not realistic.
The three issues the Ambassador mentioned are the conditions US Administrations have set for any normalisation of relations between the two countries.
Washington cut ties with Iran after Iranian students stormed the American Embassy on November 1979 and took 55 American diplomats as hostage for 444 days.
"Lack of sufficient creativity on the part of the U.S. policy makers to compile clear-cut and effective measures to speed up establishment of more normal ties between Iran and U.S. can be a reason for current status of Iran-U.S. ties", Mr. Nezhad Hosseinian further indicated, accusing "certain influential and powerful groups of the third party", in the decision making processes in Washington, referring indirectly to Israel and the Jewish lobby in the United States.
"As long as Washington's hostility remains in place and the feeling of distrust prevails in Tehran, any direct talks by Iran and the U.S. on their disputes on the three above-mentioned issues will be futile", the Iranian envoy stressed, noting that real change in bilateral ties can be possible "only through major changes in the U.S. policy and its approach against Iran".
But Tehran's hopes of a quick reversal in U.S. policies were set back when President George W. Bush renewed a ban on trade and investment with Iran last week, calling the country a threat.
"Bush's extension of the policy of the previous U.S. administration was disappointing", Mr. Nezhad-Hosseinian said. "This shows that the United States lacks the good will toward Iran."
His comments came a day after Secretary of State Colin Powell said Iran was the "subject of a review" by the United States.
"We are studying Iran in considerable depth...We will continue to watch developments closely and hopefully" Reuters news agency quoted the secretary as having said.
Observing the moderation of the tone and the direct hint to "direct talks", Iranian political analysts said they were not sure whether Mr. Khameneh'i has really changed his hostilities towards US or it was just a "trick" to "balance" his all out crackdown on Iranian Islamist-nationalists who forms the bulk and power base of the reformists.
Ordered by the leader, the Judiciary arrested last week more than20 Islamist-nationalist personalities and officially banned all activities of the Iran Freedom Movement, their flag-bearer formation.
The Iranian diplomat said former policies of the U.S., including variety of economic sanctions issued against Iran, the country's enmity with Iran at the international foray and its efforts to put Iran in isolation in the region and the world to weaken its national security and slowdown its economic programs and development, cannot be definitely signs of Washington's goodwill for direct talks with Tehran for promotion of bilateral relations, IRNA reported. ENDS IRAN US NORMALISATION 23301