US
To Join Iran At International
Talks: Another Round Of
Threats And Ultimatums
By Peter Symonds
03 March, 2007
World
Socialist Web
Despite
widespread media speculation of a “shift” in US policy toward
Iran, the announcement this week that Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice will take part in a regional conference with her Iranian counterpart
does not represent any softening of the US stance. Amid a mounting confrontation
with Iran, the US will undoubtedly use the forum to heighten, not lessen,
the tensions with Tehran.
As White House spokesman
Tony Snow bluntly told the press: “There is no crack. A number
of people have been characterising US participation in a regional meeting
as a change in policy; it is nothing of the sort.” State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack reinforced the message, declaring that, contrary
to news reports, US policy on Iran was not “going wobbly, shift,
turnabout, change”.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki,
who has been pushing for such a conference for some time, yesterday
formally announced that the first stage of discussions, involving lower-level
officials, will be held on March 10 in Baghdad. The Iraqi government
has invited all neighbouring countries, including Iran and Syria; members
of the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Unity; and the five permanent
members of the UN Security Council as well as a variety of international
organisations.
The first phase would set
the stage for a further meeting to include Rice and the Iranian and
Syrian foreign ministers as well as the representatives of other countries
and organisations. State Department spokesman McCormack hinted that
informal discussion with Iranian diplomats might be possible, but only
on the issue of Iraqi security. Asked if talks would take place on the
standoff over Iran’s nuclear programs, he reaffirmed the US demand
that Tehran first shut down its uranium enrichment facilities.
The proposal for regional
talks is not exactly new. In late 2004, then US Secretary of State Colin
Powell took part in the first meeting of the International Compact on
Iraq at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheik but exchanged only small
talk with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi. Last year Iranian
and American officials announced plans for the US ambassador to Iraq,
Zalmay Khalilzad, to meet with Iranian officials over Iraqi security.
But the meeting fell through after Iraqi leaders objected to Khalilzad
effectively supplanting the role of their “sovereign” government
and suggested a regional forum instead.
The Bush administration intends
to use the upcoming meetings to aggressively pursue its allegations
that Iran and Syria have been supporting anti-US insurgents in Iraq.
Since President Bush declared in his January 10 speech on Iraq that
the US would “seek out and destroy” networks providing arms
and training, American soldiers have been rounding up Iranian officials
allegedly involved. According to an article in this week’s New
Yorker by Seymour Hersh, up to 500 Iranians, including aid workers,
have been detained at any one time.
Yet, the Bush administration
has provided no evidence that the Iranian regime is directly involved
in supplying arms to Shiite militia in Iraq. Last weekend, US soldiers
laid out a display of weapons allegedly seized from Shiite militia,
pointing to the made-in-Iran parts used in roadside bombs, known as
explosively formed penetrators (EFP). As the New York Times report noted,
however, other items clearly did not come from Iran, but were made in
Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere in the Middle East.
More unsubstantiated accusations
were made by Defence Intelligence Agency Director Michael Maples at
a US Senate hearing on Tuesday. Without tabling any evidence, Maples
claimed that Iran was training Iraqi Shiite militia in the use of EFPs
in Lebanon and Iran, adding that Hezbollah was also involved. Newly
installed US intelligence chief Mike McConnell, who was also present,
admitted, however, there was no direct proof that senior Iranian leaders
were involved, saying only it was “probable”.
The “case” against
Iran—Iranian parts for roadside bombs, undisclosed “intelligence”
about Iranian involvement, lurid tales about the “elite”
Quds Forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and speculation that
top leaders in Tehran are “probably” involved—is about
as solid as the concoction of lies that was used to justify the criminal
invasion of Iraq. Yet, as State Department spokesman McCormack made
clear, Iranian-made weapons will be “certainly at the top of our
list” at the upcoming international conferences.
The Bush administration does
not engage in “diplomacy” in the normally accepted meaning
of the word. Rice will not be attending the conference to negotiate
with Iran and Syria, or any other participant for that matter, but to
lay down the law and issue a series of demands and ultimatums. She has
spent the past weeks lining up an anti-Iranian alliance of “moderate”
Middle Eastern states, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, to
add further weight to US threats.
Off the record, American
officials are perfectly clear about the purpose of US involvement in
the conferences. The New York Times reported: “One senior administration
official said that while some Bush officials have advocated looking
for ways to talk to Iran and Syria, they did not want to appear to be
talking to either country from a position of weakness. By ratchetting
up the confrontational talk, the administration official said, the United
States was in more of a driver’s seat.”
Even if one accepts at face
value that the US is merely involved in an elaborate game of brinkmanship,
the Bush administration’s actions are utterly reckless. The US
military has stationed two aircraft carrier groups in the Persian Gulf
and stepped up patrols by warplanes along the Iraq-Iran border. These
provocative moves have been accompanied by an escalating propaganda
campaign against Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program and its
support for “terrorist” Hezbollah, as well as the supply
of arms to Iraqi insurgents. All this could easily spiral out of control
into military conflict.
The Bush administration has
no intention of negotiating in good faith with Iran or Syria. While
announcing Rice’s attendance at the upcoming conference, the US
is intensifying the pressure on UN Security Council members to impose
tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programs. Harsher economic
penalties would of course heighten Iran’s economic difficulties.
That is not the sole purpose of a new UN resolution, however. As in
the lead up to the war on Iraq, Washington will undoubtedly exploit
the growing list of resolutions to provide a thin veneer of legitimacy
to any military aggression against Iran.
In the meantime, US participation
in the international conference on Iraq is a ploy that serves several
political purposes. It is aimed at dulling the growing sense of alarm
among working people in the US and internationally about a catastrophic
new war in the Middle East and enlisting the active support of the Democrats.
While no more than an empty gesture, the White House will no doubt claim
that it gave the opportunity for diplomacy to work. Former Democrat
congressman Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired the Iraq Study Group, immediately
jumped on board, declaring Rice’s decision was “a very positive
move” and a “huge change” in the Bush administration’s
approach to the Middle East.
At the same time, the Bush
administration used the prospect of its participation in the conference
to bully its puppet regime in Baghdad into accepting US plans to exploit
Iraqi oil. As the New York Times explained: “Iraqi officials had
been pushing for such a meeting for several months, but Bush administration
officials refused until the Iraqi government reached agreement on pressing
domestic matters, including guidelines for nationwide distribution of
oil revenue and foreign investment in the country’s immense oil
industry, administration officials said.”
The US blackmail appears
to have worked. On Monday, the Iraqi cabinet finally agreed, after months
of bitter wrangling over the division of revenue, to pass legislation
to provide the framework for international, that is mainly American,
corporations to open up new oil fields. On the same day, plans for the
international conferences were announced and the next day Rice confirmed
her attendance. Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari described Rice’s
decision as “very significant”. He had previously publicly
warned of the dangers of Iraq becoming drawn into a US confrontation
with Iran.
For the Bush administration,
Rice’s participation in the planned conference is nothing more
than a useful maneouvre that could be easily reversed. At the same time,
the main thrust of US policy continues: the menacing build up for a
new military adventure again Iran.