IRAN IS NOT READY FOR NORMALISING TIES WITH THE U.S.
TEHRAN, 13 May (IPS) Iranian political analysts cold-shouldered the importance of a recent meeting between Iranian and American officials, saying the present Iranian leadership was not ready yet for an outright resumption of ties with Washington.
"There is no a central decision-making in Tehran. The leadership is so divided and the issue of relations with the United States is so sensitive and so important for the future of this regime that no one, including Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, can not take a decision alone", one senior Iranian analyst noted, referring to reports in Washington that the Iran and the United States were engaged in secret talks about resuming relations.
"No talks on that issue can ever take place without the blessing of the hawks in the hey’at mo’talefeh (the League of Islamic Associations, a hard line group that control the present Iranian theocracy behind the curtain) and the hey’at is basically against the United States and Israel", he added, speaking to Iran Press Service on condition of anonymity.
"As to the question of the two sides talking to each other, this is nothing new", he said, reminding that Iran and American diplomats meet routinely in many places concerning subjects of mutual interests, like Afghanistan, Iraq, Central Asia, Caspian, terrorism, Iran’s nuclear projects etc.
Following the swift U.S.-led victory over Iraq, some of Iranian hard line officials like the former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, alarmed at the prospect that the Americans might be encouraged to also change the Iranian regime, have suggested a new policy of engagement with Washington.
"A large section of people across the political divide in Iran realise that now may be the time to make an overture (to Washington)", said one European diplomat in Tehran. But the U.S. just doesn't agree with the leadership in Iran full stop. Unlike the European Union, it doesn't make distinctions between reformers and conservatives and it won't re-establish ties unless there is a regime change", he said.
"The USA Today" newspaper quoted an unnamed Iranian diplomat as saying Tehran was discussing re-establishing ties with Washington after a 23-year break.
The paper said officials from the two countries had held three meetings in Geneva this year, the latest on May 3, with the approval of Iran's Islamic clerical leaders.
"The debate is taking place both in Iran and the United States", The USA Today quoted an unnamed Iranian diplomat as saying. "We are ready to discuss re-establishing relations on the basis of mutual respect".
Zalmay Khalilzad, the White House’s envoy to Afghanistan and Iraq, is leading the U.S. side, the paper added.
Informed sources told IPS that in the last round of Iran-US meeting, Iran put on the table Washington’s backing for the Mojahedeen Khalq Organisation and the Americans raised Iran’s support for "terrorist" groups like the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Palestinians HAMAS and Islamic Jihad, the Ansar Eslam, Iran’s nuclear projects and Tehran’s meddling in Iraqi affairs.
"As a first gesture of good will, the Americans closed all MKO bases in Iraq, garrisoned its members in one base and confiscated all their weapons. Now, the American are waiting for Iran’s response", he said.
But Ayatollah Khameneh'i, the orthodox leader of the Islamic Republic has flatly rejected restoring relations with the United States arguing it would be tantamount to "surrender", newspapers reported on Tuesday.
On orders from Mr. Khameneh’i, the Iranian media as well as politicians, including members of the Majles are told not to "ever" raise the issue of ties with the United States, as he considers the normalisation of relations with Washington as meaning the end of his regime.
"Some prescribe the surrender of the Iranian nation to America in the face of the enemy's adventurism. But succumbing to the enemy is by no means effective", Mr. Khameneh’i said in a speech to students in Tehran on Monday.
Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister also rejected the report as "baseless".
"No negotiation has been held among officials of the two countries on (resuming) bilateral relations and the Islamic Republic of Iran seriously believes that negotiations will be useful only if they are based on mutual respect", the official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Mr. Hamid Reza Asefi, the Ministry’s senior spokesman.
U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told "Reuters" on Monday that the recent Geneva talks were on practical issues and did not presage a re-opening of diplomatic ties.
"The issue of diplomatic relations is not on the table right now but we have ways (of communicating with Tehran), and we use them on a regular basis, very recently", Secretary of State Colin Powell said.
A group of conservatives close to the Bush administration has started to advocate "regime change" in Iran, with the son of the late Shah as their candidate as ruler.
Washington cut all relations with the newly established Islamic Republic after revolutionary students seized its embassy in Tehran on November 1979 and kept 55 American diplomats and staff as hostage for 444 days. ENDS IRAN US TALKS 13503