IRAN COULD HELP US TO TOPPLE SADDAM
WASHINGTON 16 Nov. (IPS) The Islamic Republic might help the United States to topple the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, despite years of mutual antagonism between the two countries, according to the USA Today.
A Pentagon official on Thursday acknowledged "preliminary feelers" between the two countries dealing with military emergencies such as downed pilots or naval accidents in the Persian Gulf. A similar arrangement was reached for the Afghan war a year ago. The talks are taking place through Arab intermediaries in a small gulf nation, the official said.
Washington cut all relations with Iran in November 1979, after Iranian revolutionary students stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took all the staff and guards as hostages.
"Iran has also allowed a group of dissident Iraqi Shiite Muslims, now based in Tehran, to work with America to help overthrow Saddam", diplomats told USA Today’s Barbara Salvin.
The negotiations could provide a major strategic boost to US hopes of a swift victory in any war against Iraq. Iran shares a 730 mile (1160 Kilometres) border with Iraq.
Iran has already stepped up efforts to help the U.S. Navy catch Iraqi oil smugglers in the Persian Gulf by chasing the smugglers out of Iranian waters, Pentagon officials say.
Iran's Islamic regime has been keen to get rid of Saddam for over two decades after he invaded the country in 1980.
"Tehran has motives beyond a deep-seated hatred of Saddam, who ordered an invasion of Iran in 1980, setting off a war that killed or wounded more than a half-million Iranians", USA Today noted.
Iranian leaders might also be prepared to help the US in order to stop the country from becoming the next target in the Washington’s war on terrorism.
President George Bush labelled Iran a member of the "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea earlier this year.
But in an attempt to encourage co-operation over Iraq, the State Department said Iran's new Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, could be invited to Washington later this month, the first such invitation for over a year.
Conservative clerics who have the upper hand in the Iranian government still chant "Death to America" in public but would want to get credit for any improvement in relations with the United States, analysts say.
Mr Zarif is expected to meet with a group of senators and congressmen at a lunch early next week. He has also been invited to a reception Monday at the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank.
Because the two countries have no diplomatic relations, permission is required for the ambassador to travel outside New York.
Before his departure for New York, the diplomat has told a group of Iranian newspapers editors that he had been authorised by the "highest authorities" to engage dialogue with American officials.
Iran experts say both governments probably would view any cooperation as a short-term tactical maneuver. "I see some temporary improvement. But I'm not willing to bet on more", says Gary Sick, a professor of international affairs at Columbia University.
Lasting progress on Tehran-Washington ties depends in large part on Iran's tumultuous domestic theatre of politics, where thousands of students continue to protest a death sentence pronounced by the leader-controlled Judiciary against Dr. Hashem Aqajari, an academic who calls for the separation of religion and the state.
"This verdict is an humiliation for both the students and the professors. Not only we want the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Aqajari, but also that the Judiciary officially presents his regrets to the accused professor", Mr. Sa’id Razavi, a leader of the Office for Consolidating Union (OCU), the largest of all Iranian students organisations, told the independent Students news agency "ISNA".
He added that the statements and speeches by the Judiciary officials show not only the clerics who have ordered the death sentence are not repenting, but also they insist for the application of the verdict. ENDS IRAN US IRAQ 151102