Iran-U.S.A

[Rasputin]

Senior officials from the US and Iran are holding fresh talks on the security situation in Iraq, only their second bilateral meeting in 27 years.
The US envoy to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, are meeting in Baghdad.

The discussions are a follow-up to the ground-breaking talks held on 28 May.

The US blames Iran for supporting some of those who are attacking US and UK troops in Iraq, while Iran blames the US troop presence for Iraq's troubles.

The insurgency and related sectarian violence in Iraq are causing thousands of deaths every month.

'Change in behaviour'

On Monday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani held separate talks with the two ambassadors to urge them to work together to improve his country's security.

However, ahead of the talks, the US and Iran continued to blame each other for the situation.

We are going to raise the need for Iran to match its actions with its words in seeking strategic stability in Iraq

Sean McCormack
US state department Spokesman


Timeline: US-Iran ties

US state department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tehran had not taken any steps to bring about a stable Iraq since the talks in May.

Mr McCormack said US intelligence showed Iran was continuing to stoke sectarian tensions and was still "providing assistance" to militias and death squads.

More than 200 US soldiers have been killed by armour piercing bombs, which the US says have been manufactured in Iran or made using Iranian-imported expertise.

"We are going to raise the need for Iran to match its actions with its words in seeking strategic stability in Iraq," he said.

"We'll see if, as a result of these engagements, they will change their behaviour."

The US has also said it believes Iran may have been implicated in the capture of five Britons who were taken hostage in Baghdad two months ago.

Differences

The Iranians, meanwhile, have called for the release of five of their citizens who were detained by US forces in Iraq in January.

The US has said they are members of the elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), but Tehran says they are diplomats.

The BBC's Nicholas Witchell, in Baghdad, says that despite all the differences between the US and Iran, neither country wants the turmoil in Iraq to continue unchecked.

Analysts say the atmosphere could also be more promising because Iran is trying to prevent a new round of sanctions threatened over its controversial nuclear programme.

The US broke off relations with Iran in 1980 when Islamic revolutionaries seized the US embassy in Tehran and held many diplomats hostage.

[Rasputin]

يك تيم تخصصى متشكل از چهار نفر از سر دبيران ارشد مجله نشنال جئوگرافى آمريكا كه به منظور ملاقات با اساتيد و بازديد از اماكن مهم تاريخى و باستانى و ميراث فرهنگى ايران از طريق استانبول عازم تهران بود، با فشار مسوولان آمريكايى مجبور به بازگشت به واشنگتن گرديد.

يكى از اعضاى موزه مردم شناسى منهتن آمريكا با ارسال نامه الكترونيكي، ضمن بيان مطلب فوق، از بهانه*جويي*هاى دولت آمريكا براى ممانعت از هر گونه همكارى مردمى و ميراث تمدنى با ايران ابراز تاسف نمود.

وى در نامه خود آورده است: سفر هيات نشنال جئوگرافى صرفا ماهيت فرهنگى و رسانه*اى داشته و جلوگيرى از اين سفر، با معيارهاى پذيرفته شده آزادى مطبوعات و مقررات صنفى روزنامه نگارى در آمريكا آشكارا مغايرت دارد.

قبلا اعلام شده بود كه يك گروه از سردبيران ارشد مجله نشنال جئوگرافى آمريكا با هدف بازديد از مناطق باستانى ايران، گفت*وگو با مقامات فرهنگى و اساتيد ايرانى و برنامه*ريزى جهت اعزام يك گروه از عكاسان و نويسندگان حرفه*اى به مدت دو تا سه هفته به ايران سفر مي*كند. گفته مي*شود مسوولان مجله نشنال جئوگرافى كه به دنبال اذعان به اشتباه فاحش سال گذشته خود در استفاده از نام مجعول براى خليج فارس و عذرخواهى و انتشار مطالبى براى جبران اشتباه در نشريه خود، بالاخره توانسته بودند موافقت مقامات جمهورى اسلامى ايران را براى اعزام دو تيم تخصصى جهت اجراى پروژه خود جلب كنند، به شدت از اقدام دولت آمريكا عصبانى هستند.

لازم به ذكر است كه مقامات آمريكايى به انحاء مختلف روزنامه نگاران، نويسندگان و محققان آمريكايى كه در مورد ايران به فعاليتهاى تحقيقاتى و مطالعاتى مي*پردازند، با تسملك به بهانه*هاى واهى چون سياست تحريم اقتصادى ايران تحت فشار قرار مي*دهند. مقامات آمريكايى پيش از اين به سردبير روزنامه لس آنجلس تايمز و نويسنده مجله تايم نيز اجازه ندادند براى تهيه گزارشات عينى از برنامه*هاى هسته*يي، به ايران سفر كنند. اين بار بهانه دولت آمريكا براى بازگرداندن گروه نشنال جئوگرافى از استانبول به بهانه مسايل فنى عنوان گرديده كه به گفته برخى منابع، از نظر متخصصان مذكور به هيچ وجه دليلى قانع كننده نبوده و آنها كه مجبور به بازگشت به واشنگتن شدند، سخت در تلاش هستند تا از مجارى قانونى حقوق خود را در زمينه آزادي*هاى حرفه*اى روزنامه*نگارى احقاق نمايند.

رويداد مذكور يك بار ديگر نشان داد كه ادعاهاى دولت آمريكا مبنى بر برخورد احترام آميز با تاريخ و تمدن و ميراث كهن ايران زمين و همچنين احترام به خواست و اراده ملت ايران، صرفا تبليغاتى پوچ و توام با دروغ و فريب افكار عمومى است. علاوه بر آن، كارشكنى مقامات آمريكايى در جريان قراردادهاى خريد هواپيما توسط شركت*هاى هواپيمايى كشورمان، حاكى از بي*اهميتى ايمنى و جان مردم ايران براى دولتمردان به ظاهر متمدن آمريكا بوده و ثبات ضدايرانى آنها را به خوبى آشكار مي*سازد.

[Rasputin]

The US and Iran today agreed to work together with Iraq to counter the deepening security crisis in the country, but tensions remain high over alleged Iranian support for insurgents.
The US ambassador, Ryan Crocker, came face-to-face with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, in Baghdad for a second round of talks following discussions on May 28 which ended a diplomatic freeze lasting nearly 30 years.

Mr Crocker said: "We discussed ways forward and one of the issues we discussed was the formation of a security subcommittee that would address at an expert or technical level some issues relating to security, be that support for violent militias, al-Qaida or border security."

Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said experts would meet as early as tomorrow to work out the structure and mechanism of the committee.
"We hope that the next round of talks will be on a higher level if progress is made," he said.

The Reuters news agency reported that the talks were dominated by US accusations of Iranian interference in Iraq.

"The two months since May have not exactly been encouraging," said Mr Crocker.

"The fact is, and we made very clear in today's talk, that over the roughly two months we have actually seen militia-related activities that can be attributed to Iranian support go up and not down."

Mr Kazemi-Qomi said Tehran was helping Iraq deal with the security situation but that Iraqis were "victimised by terror and the presence of foreign forces".

"They (the Americans) acknowledged making mistakes and this is a step forward in itself and it's now up to the Americans to rectify their mistakes," he said.

The Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, opened the meeting with an impassioned appeal for help from the two nations.

"We are hoping that you support stability in Iraq, an Iraq that doesn't interfere in the affairs of others nor want anyone to meddle in its own affairs," he said.

"It's Iraq's right to call on everyone to stand beside it to counter the scourge of terror and extremism."

The US military has previously displayed what it claims are Iranian-made rockets, mortars and sophisticated roadside bombs seized in Iraq. Roadside bombs are the biggest killers of US troops in the country.

On Sunday, the US military said it had detained two suspected insurgents linked to the Iranian revolutionary guards' elite Qods force, the existence of which Iran officially denies.

The second round of talks came after the Iranian envoy earlier this month made the first consular visit to five Iranians US forces detained in northern Iraq in January.

The US military says the five men are linked to Iran's revolutionary guards and were backing militants in Iraq, but Mr Kazemi-Qomi revealed he asked for their release during today's talks.

The US has led diplomatic efforts to isolate Iran over its nuclear ambitions but that was not on the agenda today.

[Rasputin]

BAGHDAD - The United States, Iran and Iraq have agreed to set up a security subcommittee to carry forward talks on restoring stability in Iraq, the U.S. envoy said Tuesday at the end of a second round of groundbreaking talks with his Iranian counterpart.


"We discussed ways forward, and one of the issues we discussed was the formation of a security subcommittee that would address at an expert or technical level some issues relating to security, be that support for violent militias, al-Qaida or border security," Ambassador Ryan Crocker said after the meeting that included lunch and spanned nearly seven hours.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said experts would meet as early as Wednesday to work out the structure and mechanism of the committee.

"We hope that the next round of talks will be on a higher level if progress is made," he said at a separate news conference after the talks.

But underscoring the rising tensions between the two foes, Crocker reiterated accusations that Iran is fueling the violence in Iraq by arming and training Shiite militias. He warned that no progress could be made unless Iranian actions change on the ground.

"The fact is, as we made very clear in today's talks, that over the roughly two months since our last meeting we've actually seen militia-related activity that could be attributed to Iranian support go up and not down," Crocker said, citing testimony from detainees and weapons and ammunition confiscated in Iraq as evidence.

"We made it clear to the Iranians that we know what they're doing (and) it's up to them to decide what they want to do about it," he said.

For his part, Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi countered that Tehran was helping Iraq deal with the security situation but Iraqis were "victimized by terror and the presence of foreign forces" on their territory.

He said his delegation also demanded the release of five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in Iraq. The United States has said the five were linked to Iran's elite Quds Force, which it has accused of arming and training Iraqi militants. Iran says the five are diplomats who were legally in Iraq.

"There are also Iranian citizens who have been detained on legally entering Iraq. We demanded their release too. We discussed the creation of a mechanism to implement what we achieved in the first round of talks. They (the Americans) acknowledged making mistakes and this is a step forward in itself and it's now up to the Americans to rectify their mistakes," Qomi said.

The meeting was opened by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who issued an impassioned appeal for help from the two nations to stabilize Iraq and warned that militants from al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Iraq were fleeing and finding refuge elsewhere.

"We are hoping that you support stability in Iraq, an Iraq that doesn't interfere in the affairs of others nor want anyone to meddle in its own affairs," he said, according to excerpts of al-Maliki's remarks released by his office.

"It's Iraq's right to call on everyone to stand beside it to counter the scourge of terror and extremism," he said. "The world ... must stand together and face this dangerous phenomenon and its evils, which have gone beyond the borders of Iraq after terror and al-Qaida groups received strong blows and are now running away from the fight and moving to other nations."

An Iraqi official who was present at the meeting room said Crocker and Qomi were involved in a heated exchange early in the talks.

It began when Crocker confronted the Iranians with charges that Tehran was supporting Shiite militiamen killing U.S. troops, providing them with weapons and training. Qomi dismissed the allegations, saying the Americans had no proof, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to disclose the information.

The detention of four Iranian-Americans in Iran has deepened tensions between Washington and Tehran, whose relations were already strained over Iran's nuclear program and its support for radical militant groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas and by U.S. military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf. Washington has called for their release and says the charges are false.

The first round of Iran-U.S. talks, on May 28 in Baghdad, broke a 27-year diplomatic freeze following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran.

Iran had said this second round would happen last month, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S officials delayed because Iran had not scaled back what Washington alleges is a concerted effort to arm militants and harm U.S. troops in Iraq.

Iraq's fragile government has been pressing for another meeting between the two nations with the greatest influence over its future.

[abadani69]

رايان کراکر، سفير آمريکا در عراق، در بحثي پر حرارت به همتاي ايراني خود گفت تهران هنوز به تحريکات خود در عراق ادامه مي دهد و اين موضوع از ملاقات دو ماه پيش آن ها تفاوتي نکرده است.

وي همچنين گفت ايران، آمريکا و عراق موافقت کرده اند کميته امنيتي مشترکي براي کاهش و کنترل خشونت در عراق تشکيل دهند.

مقامات عراقي از اين اقدام تجليل کرده و گفتند اين اولين اقدام مشخصي است که از اين مذاکرات حاصل شده است. کراکر گفت آنچه مهم است نتايج عملي است.

وي اظهار داشت: "ما امروز به وضوح گفتيم که طي دو ماه گذشته عمليات شبه نظامياني که توسط ايران حمايت مي شوند کم نشده بلکه افزوده شده است." ايران گفته است اين اتهامات بي پايه بوده و کمکي به مذاکرات نخواهد کرد.

اين مذاکرات در حالي برگزار شد که بر اثر انفجار يک بمب در هيلاله در 60 کيلومتري جنوب بغداد حد اقل 25 نفر جان خود را از دست دادند. اين عده بخشي از 55 نفر کشته شدگان امروز در سراسر عراق هستند.

ايران اتهامات حمايت از شبه نظاميان را رد کرده و تاکيد دارد حضور نيرو هاي آمريکا درعراق مهمترين عامل تشديد خشونت ها در عراق است. کاظمي قمي ، سفير ايران در عراق به کراکر گفت که کشورش آمادگي دارد در کميته اي متشکل از متخصصين امنيتي نگراني هاي آمريکا را بررسي کند. اين پيشنهاد را ايران در ملاقات ماه مه نيز ارائه داده بود.

کراکر اظهار اميدواري کرد اين کميته هر چه سريع تر کار خود را شروع کند. زيباري گفت اين کميته سه جانبه ظرف چند روز آينده جزئيات مربوط به ترکيب و وظايف کميته را مشخص خواند کرد. وي گفت وظيفه اصلي آن به کنترل در آوردن عمليات شبه نظاميان، مبارزه با القاعده در عراق و ايمن کردن مرز عراق با ايران تعيين شده است.

کاظمي قمي به خبر نگاران گفت آزادي پنج ايراني بازداشت شده توسط آمريکا را خواستار شده است. زيباري نيز از اين خواسته حمايت کرده است. مقامات آمريکا گفته اند اين عده اعضاي سپاه قدس هستند ولي تهران مي گويد آن ها ديپلمات هستند. تهران از سوي ديگر چهار ايراني آمريکايي را به جرم کوشش براي براندازي رژيم ايران دستگير و زنداني کرده است.

نوري الملکي، نخست وزير عراق، در جلسه آغازين مذاکرات بغداد گفت نمي خواهد کشورش به صحنه جنگ و کشمکش نيرو هاي خارجي تبديل شود. وي افزود: "جو همکاري جديدي درمنطقه بوجود آمده است که بر اساس آن همه بايد با تروريسم که دشمن همه ماست مبارزه کنيم."

[Rasputin]

آمریکا بالا بردن سطح مذاکره با ایران را رد کرد


متکی بررسی مذاکرات سطح بالاتر را به دریافت درخواست آمریکاییان مشروط کرده بود
پس از آنکه وزیر امورخارجه ایران، مذاکره با آمریکا را در سطح معاون وزیر قابل بررسی خواند، سخنگوی وزارت خارجه آمریکا اعلام کرد که در شرایط کنونی احتمال مذاکره با ایران در چنین سطحی وجود ندارد.
شان مک کورمک، سخنگوی وزارت خارجه آمریکا با اشاره به مذاکرات سفیر کشورش در عراق با همتای ایرانی خود به خبرنگاران گفته: "ما در حال حاضر کانال تثبیت شده ای برای مذاکرات داریم و در حال بررسی تشکیل هیئتی هستیم که در واقع مذاکرات را در سطح کارشناسی ادامه خواهند داد که سطح پایینتری است".

اظهارات منوچهر متکی، وزیر امورخارجه ایران درباره قابل بررسی بودن مذاکره با آمریکا در سطح معاون وزیر پس از آن بیان شد که هوشیار زیباری، وزیر خارجه عراق ابراز امیدواری کرد که دور بعدی مذاکرات بین ایران و آمریکا در مورد عراق در سطح بالاتری انجام گیرد.

اما پس از انتشار خبر عدم موافقت آمریکا با ارتقای سطح مذاکره با ایران، خبرگزاری جمهوری اسلامی از آقای متکی نقل کرد که اساساً درخواست ارتقای سطح مذاکرات با ایران مطرح نشده و ارتقای سطح مذاکرات در دستور کار ایران نیست.

در خبری دیگر در مورد مذاکرات بغداد، گزارش شده است که به زودی یک کمیته سه جانبه امنیتی با شرکت نمایندگان آمریکا، ایران و عراق برای هماهنگی و مشورت در مورد نحوه برقراری ثبات و امنیت در عراق تشکیل می شود.

وزیر خارجه عراق گفته است که این کمیته، با عضویت کارشناسان سه کشور، به زودی تشکیل می شود و به طور مرتب جلساتی را برای بررسی مسایل امنیتی عراق برگزار خواهد کرد.

پس از دور دوم مذاکرات ایران و آمریکا در بغداد، هشیار زیباری به خبرنگاران گفت که طی مذاکرات سفیران ایران و آمریکا، برای اولین بار توافق بر سر تشکیل هیئتی سه جانبه حاصل شده و دفتر نخست وزیر عراق هم اطلاعیه ای صادر کرده که بنابر آن، هدف از تشکیل این هیئت، تلاش برای مهار گروههای مسلح، مبارزه با القاعده و بهبود امنیت مرزها خواهد بود.

[Rasputin]

شان مک کورمک سخنگوی وزارت خارجه آمریکا بالا بردن سطح گفتگوها با ایران را رد کرده است.
وی گفته است واشنگتن در مرحله کنونی ارتقا سطح گفتگوهای دو کشور را عملی نمی بیند.

شان مک کورمک در واکنش به اخبار منتشر شده به نقل از منوچهر متکی که در آن ارتقا سطح گفتگوی مقام های دو کشور قابل بررسی دانسته شده بود اظهار نظر می کرد.

پس از اظهارات سخنگوی وزارت خارجه آمریکا، خبرگزاری جمهوری اسلامی ایرنا نیز به نقل از آقای متکی اعلام کرد که بالا بردن سطح گفتگوها در دستور کار ایران نیست.

شان مک کورمک همچنین گفت آمریکا یک کانال ارتباطی در سطح سفیر از طریق رایان کراکر، سفیر خود در بغداد، با ایران ایجاد کرده و هم اکنون در حال بررسی پیشنهاد ایجاد یک کمیته فرعی است که در آن دیپلمات های رده پایین تر دو کشور همراه با مقام های عراقی در قالب یک گروه در تماس و همکاری باشند.

وی گفت واشنگتن بزودی درباره تشکیل این کمیته فرعی تصمیم گیری می کند.

اما علل اصرار آمریکا به پایین نگهداشتن سطح این گفتگوها چیست؟

سوزان ملونی کارشناس موسسه بروکینگز در واشنگتن می گوید: "از هنگامیکه موضوع گفتگوهای ایران و آمریکا مطرح شده، واشنگتن تاکید داشته که این نباید به عنوان محفلی برای طرح مسائل دیگر استفاده شود. این گفتگوها تنها به مسئله عراق محدود می شود و سایر موضوعات به خصوص مسئله اتمی باید در چهارچوب شورای امنیت سازمان ملل متحد و اتحادیه اروپا مطرح شود."

سوزان ملونی که تا چندی پیش پژوهشگر ارشد امور ایران در وزارت خارجه آمریکا بوده می گوید واشنگتن ترجیح می دهد این گفتگوها به دور از هیاهوی رسانه ها ادامه یابد:

"اگر این گفتگوها قرار است نتایج ملموسی برای عراق و یا روابط ایران و آمریکا داشته باشند باید در سطح کاری، تخصصی و ملموس باشد نه اینکه در سطح مقام های بسیار ارشد باشد و ناگزیر توجه وسیع افکار عمومی را جلب کند."

به نظر می رسد که الگوی مورد نظر مقام های آمریکایی گفتگوهای ایران و آمریکا بر سر افغانستان است که طی آن دیپلمات های دو کشور برای تثبیت حکومت حامد کرزای پس از سقوط طالبان مذاکرات و گفتگوهای سودمندی داشتند.

خانم ملونی گفت: "فرصتی که در آن ما شاهد همکاری های خوب ایران و آمریکا بودیم گفتگوهای دو کشور بین سالهای 2001 تا 2003 بر سر افغانستان بود. رایان کراکر درگیر این مذاکرات بود. این نشست ها نتایج خوبی در زمینه ایجاد یک حکومت با ثبات در افغانستان پس از طالبان به بار آورد."

اما یکی از مسائلی که برخی کارشناسان به خصوص در ایران مطرح می کنند مخالفت برخی کشورهای قدرتمند عربی با نزدیکی تهران و واشنگتن است.

اما سوزان ملونی می گوید تثبیت اوضاع عراق برای آمریکا مهمتر از آن است که به خاطر نگرانی کشورهای عربی از گفتگو با ایران خودداری کند:

"ناراحتی هایی که شما ممکن است در برخی پایتخت های عربی درباره گفتگوهای ایران و آمریکا ببینید تسکین داده نخواهد شد. کشورهای عربی احتمالا با فشار بیشتر آمریکا برای تقویت همکاری های همین کشورهای عربی در عراق روبرو می شوند."

[Rasputin]

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran is ready to consider high-level talks with the United States regarding security in Iraq, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Wednesday.


The report came a day after the American and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq met in Baghdad and agreed to set up a security subcommittee to carry forward talks on restoring stability in the wartorn nation.

"The issue of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. about Iraq at the level of deputy foreign ministers is reviewable," the agency quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying after a cabinet meeting in Tehran.

Mottaki said that "necessary studies will be undertaken" in case a "formal request" is made by the U.S. for new, higher-level talks on Iraq.

But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said there would be no such request following Tuesday's meeting between U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi.

"I don't see that happening," McCormack said. We have an established channel with Ryan Crocker and we are taking a look at establishing a subcommittee, but that group would actually be lower-level officials."

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said after the talks in Baghdad that experts would meet as early as Wednesday to work out the structure and mechanism of the committee.

"We hope that the next round of talks will be on a higher level if progress is made," he said at a news conference after the talks.

But underscoring the rising tensions between the two foes, Crocker reiterated accusations that Iran is fueling the violence in Iraq by arming and training Shiite militias. He warned that no progress could be made unless Iranian actions change on the ground.

Qomi countered that Tehran was helping Iraq deal with the security situation but that Iraqis were "victimized by terror and the presence of foreign forces" on their territory.

He said Tuesday his delegation also demanded the release of five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in Iraq. The United States has said the five were linked to Iran's elite Quds Force, which it has accused of arming and training Iraqi militants. Iran says the five are diplomats who were legally in Iraq.

Iraq's fragile government has been pressing for more contacts between the two nations with the greatest influence over its future, and Iran has repeatedly signaled its willingness to sit down.

Iran holds considerable sway in Iraq, where the majority of the population is also Shiite Muslim and where many Shiite political parties are seen as having ties to Tehran.

The United States broke off diplomatic ties with the Islamic republic following the 1979 storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the holding of American hostages for 444 days.

[Rasputin]

Iran's Khamenei says U.S. and Israel are main foes

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the United States and Israel were his country's main enemies, just days after U.S.-Iranian talks about Iraq's security.


Iran and the United States cut diplomatic ties shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. They held talks in Baghdad on Tuesday to find ways to restore security in Iraq, after an earlier round in May.

"The Zionist regime (Israel) and the American government are the main enemies of Iran, and hatred for America is deepening every day around the globe," Khamenei said in a televised speech.

Khamenei has the last say in all state matters, including resumption of ties with the United States and Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Washington accuses Shi'ite Muslim Iran of fomenting violence in Iraq. Iran denies the charge and blames the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 for the bloodshed between Iraq's majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Arabs.

During the two rounds of talks in Baghdad, the sides agreed to establish a trilateral committee to investigate issues such as support for militias and al Qaeda in Iraq.

Tehran and Washington are also at loggerheads over Iran's nuclear work. The United States says Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian program. Iran denies this, saying it needs the technology to generate electricity.

Two sets of U.N. sanctions have been imposed on the Islamic state for defying repeated U.N. resolutions demanding it suspend all nuclear fuel activity. A third set is now in preparation.

[Rasputin]

Iran's Khamenei says U.S. and Israel are main foes

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the United States and Israel were his country's main enemies, just days after U.S.-Iranian talks about Iraq's security.


Iran and the United States cut diplomatic ties shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. They held talks in Baghdad on Tuesday to find ways to restore security in Iraq, after an earlier round in May.

"The Zionist regime (Israel) and the American government are the main enemies of Iran, and hatred for America is deepening every day around the globe," Khamenei said in a televised speech.

Khamenei has the last say in all state matters, including resumption of ties with the United States and Iran's disputed nuclear program.

Washington accuses Shi'ite Muslim Iran of fomenting violence in Iraq. Iran denies the charge and blames the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 for the bloodshed between Iraq's majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Arabs.

During the two rounds of talks in Baghdad, the sides agreed to establish a trilateral committee to investigate issues such as support for militias and al Qaeda in Iraq.

Tehran and Washington are also at loggerheads over Iran's nuclear work. The United States says Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian program. Iran denies this, saying it needs the technology to generate electricity.

Two sets of U.N. sanctions have been imposed on the Islamic state for defying repeated U.N. resolutions demanding it suspend all nuclear fuel activity. A third set is now in preparation.

[abadani69]

آيا اکنون زمان مناسبي براي تحويل تسليحات اضافي به کشورهاي خاورميانه بود؟ به محض اعلام پروژه دولت بوش مبني بر فروش ده ساله تسليحات و تجهيزات نظامي به عربستان و پنج کشور ديگر در حوزه خليج فارس، اين مسأله با مخالفت و سازش ناپذيري بخشي از کنگره مواجه شد.

اين طرح راکه هفته گذشته به چند تن از اعضاي پارلمان تسليم شد مي توان به عنوان پيش درآمدي براي نشست روز سه شنبه 31 ژوئيه در شرم الشيخ به حساب آورد. در اين نشست، رابرت گيتس، وزير دفاع امريکا و کاندوليزا رايس، وزير امور خارجه اين کشور، به همراه همتاهاي مصري، سعودي و پنج کشور عربي ديگر که گفته مي شود از مواضع ميانه رويي برخوردارند حضور خواهند داشت. اينها کشورهايي هستند [بحرين، قطر، کويت، عمان، امارات] که واشنگتن در صدد تقويت آنها برآمده تا بدين طريق نسبت به تأثير و نفوذ ايران در منطقه تعادل ايجاد کرده باشد.

در بخش دوم اين طرح، شاهد افزايش چشمگير کمک نظامي به اسراييل هستيم که به گفته ايهود اولمرت، نخست وزير اسراييل، اين افزايش به ميزان 25 درصد بوده است. ازطرف ديگر، کمک نظامي به مصر نيز به مبلغ 13 ميليارد دلار در مدت 10 سال پيش بيني شده.

با وجود اهميت اين قراردادها، قوانين کنگره امريکا به گونه اي بر دولت اين کشور تحميل مي شوند که راهي جز تبعیت از کنگره ندارد.

به دست آوردن امتياز

دولت بوش اميدوار است بتواند توان تدافعي متحدان سني خود را در خليج فارس افزايش دهد. اين کشورها از اينکه مي بينند ايران بر منطقه تسلط يافته نگرانند، به ويژه اينکه در صورت خروج ايالات متحده از عراق و احتمال دستيابي ايران به سلاح هسته اي، شرايط براي آنها بسيار وخيم تر خواهد شد. ايالات متحده همچنين اميدوار است که در کوتاه مدت بتواند رياض را به حمايت از دولت عراقي نوري المالکي، عليرغم سيطره شيعه ها، ترغيب کند.

روز قبل از آغاز سفر گيتس و رايس که پس از شرم الشيخ به جده خواهند رفت، مسؤولين امريکايي به طور عمومي اقدام به انتقاد از آنها کردند. زلماي خليل زاد، سفير امريکا در سازمان ملل، به شبکه CNN اظهار داشت: "درخصوص مسأله عراق، عربستان سعودي و چند کشور ديگر آنچه را که مي توانند انجام دهند، از ما دريغ مي کنند." او در ادامه افزود: "گاهي اوقات نه تنها کمک نمي کنند، بلکه تلاش هايي را که ما براي پيشرفت انجام داده ايم مختل مي سازند."

تام لانتوس، رييس دموکرات کميسيون امور خارجه در مجلس نمايندگان امريکا هم مخالفت خود را با طرح تحويل تسليحات بدون گرفتن امتياز از طرف سعودي اعلام کرد. به گفته وي، به عنوان مثال مي توان از سعودي خواست تا بخشي از پناهندگان عراقي را که در اردن اجتماع کرده اند بپذيرد يا اينکه متعهد شود که ديگر با جنبش مقاومت اسلامي [حماس] و فتح فلسطين مصالحه نخواهد کرد؛ درست مانند ملک عبدالله که در ماه مارس چنين تعهدي را پذيرفت. او در خصوص گرفتن امتياز از قطر، خواستار اين است که شبکه الجزيره نقش ميانه رويي را در منطقه ايفا کند.

[Rasputin]

In the energy-rich Middle East, only two countries have failed to subordinate themselves to Washington's basic demands: Iran and Syria. Accordingly both are enemies, Iran by far the more important.

As was the norm during the Cold War, resort to violence is regularly justified as a reaction to the malign influence of the main enemy, often on the flimsiest of pretexts. Unsurprisingly, as Bush send s more troops to Iraq, tales surface of Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Iraq -- a country otherwise free from any foreign interference, on the tacit assumption that Washington rules the world.

In the Cold War-like mentality that prevails in Washington, Tehran is portrayed as the pinnacle in the so-called Shiite Crescent that stretches from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon, through Shiite southern Iraq and Syria. And again unsurprisingly, the "surge" in Iraq and escalation of threats and accusations against Iran is accompanied by grudging willingness to attend a conference of regional powers, with the agenda limited to Iraq-more narrowly, to attaining U.S. goals in Iraq.

Presumably this minimal gesture toward diplomacy is intended to allay the growing fears and anger elicited by Washington's heightened aggressiveness, with forces deployed in position to attack Iran and regular provocations and threats.

For the United States, the primary issue in the Middle East has been and remains effective control of its unparalleled energy resources. Access is a secondary matter. Once the oil is on the seas it goes anywhere. Control is understood to be an instrument of global dominance.

Iranian influence in the "crescent" challenges U.S. control. By an accident of geography, the world's major oil resources are in largely Shiite areas of the Middle East: southern Iraq, adjacent regions of Saudi Arabia and Iran, with some of the major reserves of natural gas as well. Washington's worst nightmare would be a loose Shiite alliance controlling most of the world's oil and independent of the United States.

Such a bloc, if it emerges, might even join the Asian Energy Security Grid and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), based in China. Iran, which already had observer status, is to be admitted as a member of the SCO. The Hong Kong South China Morning Post reported in June 2006 that "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the limelight at the annual meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) by calling on the group to unite against other countries as his nation faces criticism over its nuclear programme." The non-aligned movement meanwhile affirmed Iran's "inalienable right" to pursue these programs, and the SCO (which includes the states of Central Asia) "called on the United States to set a deadline for the withdrawal of military installations from all member states.

If the Bush planners bring that about, they will have seriously undermined the U.S. position of power in the world.

To Washington, Tehran's principal offense has been its defiance, going back to the overthrow of the Shah in 1979 and the hostage crisis at the U.S. embassy. The grim U.S. role in Iran in earlier years is excised from history. In retribution for Iranian defiance, Washington quickly turned to support for Saddam Hussein's aggression against Iran, which left hundreds of thousands dead and the country in ruins. Then came murderous sanctions, and under Bush, rejection of Iranian diplomatic efforts in favor of increasing threats of direct attack.

Last July (2006), Israel invaded Lebanon, the fifth invasion since 1978. As before, U.S. support for the aggression was a critical factor, the pretexts quickly collapse on inspection, and the consequences for the people of Lebanon are severe. Among the reasons for the U.S.-Israel invasion is that Hezbollah's rockets could be a deterrent to a potential U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran.

Despite the saber-rattling, it is, I suspect, unlikely that the Bush administration will attack Iran. The world is strongly opposed. Seventy-five percent of Americans favor diplomacy over military threats against Iran, and as noted earlier, Americans and Iranians largely agree on nuclear issues. Polls by Terror Free Tomorrow reveal that "Despite a deep historical enmity between Iran's Persian Shiite population and the predominantly Sunni population of its ethnically diverse Arab, Turkish and Pakistani neighbors, the largest percentage of people in these countries favor accepting a nuclear-armed Iran over any American military action." It appears that the U.S. military and intelligence community is also opposed to an attack.

[Rasputin]

Iran cannot defend itself against U.S. attack, but it can respond in other ways, among them by inciting even more havoc in Iraq. Some issue warnings that are far more grave, among them by the respected British military historian Corelli Barnett, who writes that "an attack on Iran would effectively launch World War III."

The Bush administration has left disasters almost everywhere it has turned, from post-Katrina New Orleans to Iraq. In desperation to salvage something, the administration might undertake the risk of even greater disasters.

Meanwhile Washington may be seeking to destabilize Iran from within. The ethnic mix in Iran is complex; much of the population isn't Persian. There are secessionist tendencies and it is likely that Washington is trying to stir them up-in Khuzestan on the Gulf, for example, where Iran's oil is concentrated, a region that is largely Arab, not Persian.

Threat escalation also serves to pressure others to join U.S. efforts to strangle Iran economically, with predictable success in Europe. Another predictable consequence, presumably intended, is to induce the Iranian leadership to be as harsh and repressive as possible, fomenting disorder and perhaps resistance while undermining efforts of courageous Iranian reformers, who are bitterly protesting Washington's tactics. It is also necessary to demonize the leadership. In the West, any wild statement of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, immediately gets circulated in headlines, dubiously translated. But as is well known, Ahmadinejad has no control over foreign policy, which is in the hands of his superior, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The U.S. media tend to ignore Khamenei's statements, especially if they are conciliatory. For example, it's widely reported when Ahmadinejad says that Israel shouldn't exist-but there is silence when Khamenei says that Iran "shares a common view with Arab countries on the most important Islamic-Arabic issue, namely the issue of Palestine," which would appear to mean that Iran accepts the Arab League position: full normalization of relations with Israel in terms of the international consensus on a two-state settlement that the U.S. and Israel continue to resist, almost alone.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq virtually instructed Iran to develop a nuclear deterrent. Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld writes that after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, "had the Iranians not tried to build nuclear weapons, they would be crazy." The message of the invasion, loud and clear, was that the U.S. will attack at will, as long as the target is defenseless. Now Iran is ringed by U.S. military forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey and the Persian Gulf and close by are nuclear-armed Pakistan and particularly Israel, the regional superpower, thanks to U.S. support.

As already discussed, Iranian efforts to negotiate outstanding issues were rebuffed by Washington, and an EU-Iranian agreement was apparently undermined by Washington's refusal to withdraw threats of attack. A genuine interest in preventing the development of nuclear weapons in Iran -- and the escalating warlike tension in the region -- would lead Washington to implement the EU bargain, agree to meaningful negotiations and join with others to move toward integrating Iran into the international economic system, in accord with public opinion in the United States, Iran, neighboring states, and virtually the entire rest of the world.

[abadani69]

[Rasputin]

The bi-lateral meetings of mid-May and last Tuesday in Baghdad between U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and Iran’s ambassador to that country, Hassan Kazemi-Qumi, were the sole talks at the ambassadorial level in more than two decades. This could be viewed as a change of attitude, however temporary, in the Bush Administration.

If in the aftermath of the first meeting Crocker was cautiously upbeat about the outcome, in the press conference following the second he unleashed a salvo of unfounded claims that Iran is funding, arming, training and even planning the operations of the Iraqi militia against the U.S. and Iraqi troops. Moreover, the White House charges that Iran is providing cover for Al-Qaeda high-ranking cadres in Iran or closes its eyes to their activities in Iran-Pakistan border regions, which are utterly preposterous – an “up-dated version of WMD’s!

Although the meeting was characterized by the major media in the U.S. as “something of a shouting match”, the two delegations agreed to form a security committee “that would address at an expert or technical level some issues relating to security, be that support to violent militias, Al Qaeda or border security,” Crocker said.

On his part, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Kazemi-Qumi, emphatically denied that Iran was supporting anti-U.S. militias in Iraq. A foreign ministry spokesman’s response to the U.S. charges was that “It is crystal clear that the main objective behind repetition of such baseless accusations against Iran is to pursue the U.S. propaganda fuss and psychological warfare against the country.” Dismissing arrogantly, Crocker declared “This is not something we’re trying to, or we need to, prove in a court of law.”

His belligerent tone appears to reflect a shift in the balance of forces within the U.S. administration in favor of waging a war against Iran, rather than using the channel of diplomacy and holding talks to resolve the differences between the two countries over the miserable situation in Iraq. U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, the State Dept. and even the CIA emphasizes on punitive sanctions, political and diplomatic isolation, and bolstering opposition groups to force Iran to capitulate to U.S. dictates, but in no way none of them rule out the military option.

In contrast, Vice President Dick Cheney, not to mention Presidential candidate Mitch Romney, Senator Joe Lieberman and all of the neo-conservatives of the Bush Administration, in league with the Zionist state of Israel reject “diplomacy” and the UN involvement in the issue as counter-productive and continue to push their agenda of bombarding Iran’s nuclear facilities, its administrative and security headquarters and water and power stations, just as in Iraq, but on a much larger scale.

The splits within the administration, the U.S. Congress, the American people as a whole, and on the international level (IAEA & EU) are the result of the valiant resistance of the people of Iraq to the criminal U.S. occupation and not to forget the U.S. public pressure on Washington to extract itself from the Iraq quagmire, which would be impossible to achieve without Iranian cooperation in helping to stabilize the country. But as long as Iran fears the possibility of U.S. military aggression against it, Tehran feels a lot safer with the U.S. bogged down and desperate in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore, Iran is unlikely to help the U.S. in the region in the absence of any quid pro quo on a much wider range of other issues such as Iran’s nuclear program, short-leashing Israel and changing its attitude towards Iran’s status in the M.E.

Therefore, Iran cannot afford to deal with Iraq’s insecurity separate from other issues involving the U.S. In that regard, the Islamic Republic of Iran learned a painful lesson in Afghanistan. As we may recall, Tehran helped in the formation of a new order in Afghanistan, and asked the U.S. for bi-lateral talks to settle the issues at hand. But what did it receive in exchange? George W. Bush and company included Iran in the links of the “axis of evil.” Therefore, Iranian leadership is unlikely to repeat their bitter experience in Afghanistan -- this time in Iraq.

IAEA Talks in Tehran
Parallel to the bi-lateral talks between the ambassadors of Iran and the U.S. to Iraq, a delegate from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Tehran on July 17 and met with the Iranian officials from the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) of Iran and began discussing ways to draw up a “framework” to resolve the ambiguities over Iran’s nuclear activities.

During the three-day meetings, Iran agreed to allow the IAEA inspectors to visit the construction of a reactor in Arak, and discuss such controversial issues as “contamination” of used centrifuges, “plutonium experimentations” and the origin of P1 and P2 centrifuges” in Iran’s nuclear activities.

Both General Secretary of the U.N., Ban Ki-moon and the Director-General of the IAEA, Mohammed ElBaradei, welcomed the talks with Iran, along with the foreign ministers of China, Russia, and Germany, and all agreed that dialogue and not more punitive sanctions are the way to resolve the differences. On June 25, 2007, Global Policy Forum reported that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the U.S. to delay the pursuit of tougher sanctions against Iran, while the UN inspectors of the IAEA are trying to break the stalemate over the country’s nuclear program. Ban Ki-moon said that the Security Council of the UN must let the IAEA work towards a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Ban Ki-moon said when Mohammed ElBaradei says he wants to have a plan of action and engage in dialogue, I support that kind of initiative.

These recent events and statements lead us to two conclusions: Firstly, the diverse reactions among the members of the UN Security Council to the position put forward by Ban Ki-moon and ElBaradei shows a potential split between them over how to proceed. Secondly, the U.S. threat of force and recommendations for more punitive sanctions are designed to sabotage the process of dialogue between the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran.