Iranian officials have characterized Washington's policy-making process as "childish" after a top Bush administration official downplayed the chances of a rapprochement between the United States and Iran. Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has called on Iranians to be vigilant against foreign efforts to destabilize the country.
Iran's conservatives, who regained control over the Iranian legislature in February's parliamentary election, have been reportedly eager to pursue a rapprochement with Washington. The rationale for normalization, from the point of view of Iranian conservative leaders, is that a greater sense of international stability is needed to increase the chances for the successful implementation of their domestic agenda, which is aimed at providing an outlet for public frustration over the country's flagging economy. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Over the last year, Iran has made repeated overtures to the United States, expressing a desire to restart a dialogue on the normalization of relations, according to a March 16 report in the Financial Times. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Tehran's main aim would be the lifting of US sanctions, an act that would make it immeasurably easier for conservatives to invigorate Iran's struggling economy.
To demonstrate its good faith, Tehran reportedly offered to cut its support to a variety of radical groups in the Middle East, including the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. Iranian officials also may have held out the prospect of talks concerning Tehran's ongoing efforts to develop nuclear capabilities. Iranian leaders insist that the country's nuclear program is designed to meet civilian energy needs. International experts worry, however, that Iran's program may develop weapons-making capabilities. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
The Bush administration never responded to the Iranian feelers. Apparently, fierce differences among top presidential advisors caused policy gridlock within the White House, the Financial Times report suggested.
Iranian officials did not comment on the Financial Times report. Then, in a March 18, television interview broadcast by the CNN network, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice dismissed the need for US-Iranian talks. She cited US concerns about the Iranian nuclear program. Rice also mentioned Washington's suspicion that Tehran may be sheltering leaders of the al Qaeda terrorist organization, and trying to disrupt US stabilization efforts in neighboring Iraq. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. "I don't think anybody needs to have a conversation with the Iranians, because they know what the problem is," Rice told CNN.
On March 20, the official Iranian news agency IRNA ridiculed Rice's comments as "another example of contradictory and non-coherent stances in the American policy-making apparatus." The report went on to say that Washington had sent "contradictory" signals in recent months, mentioning specifically the US goodwill gesture of providing humanitarian aid to victims of the late December 2003 Bam earthquake, and the tough US stance on Iran's nuclear program.
The IRNA commentary suggested that Iran was looking for a more consistent policy coming out of the White House. "Only a fundamental change in US policies would change the existing atmosphere of hostility between the two arch-foes [the United States and Iran]," the IRNA commentary said.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, also heaped scorn on the Bush administration. "America's childish persistence on its wrong policies has led to an escalation of insecurity in the world," the foreign ministry spokesman said. He added that the US reconstruction struggles in both Afghanistan and Iraq raised questions "about the appropriateness of American policies among its [Washington's] own allies."
Iranian leaders are now concerned that, rather than engaging Tehran, Washington will undertake measures aimed at destabilizing the Islamic republic, especially in the event that Bush wins re-election in November. Many in Tehran apparently believe that ongoing problems with reconstruction efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan could prompt the Bush administration to attempt to cast Iran as a scapegoat.
In public comments March 21, Khamenei, the supreme leader, said the United States was "stuck in a quagmire" in Iraq. He went on to caution that the United States was likely to try to destabilize Iran. "The most important duty of people and officials is to be vigilant," IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying. "The enemy should know that any decision it is making against the Iranian nation will be thwarted because Iranians are awake and vigilant."
The shrill tone of recent Iranian rhetoric may be indicative of the conservatives' profound disappointment over the Bush administration's refusal to engage. The inability to count on a rapprochement with the United States means the conservatives' ability to implement their domestic stabilization agenda is in doubt.
Just a few months ago, many observers in both Washington and Tehran believed that a thaw was in the offing. This idea gained momentum in January when the United States dispatched planeloads of emergency aid to Bam earthquake victims, and followed up with an offer to send a high-level delegation to inspect the damage.
In addition, while Washington was highly critical of February's parliamentary election, it refrained from mounting an intensive effort to discredit the results. Meanwhile, in Iraq, the US-dominated Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) approved plans for the construction of an oil pipeline across the Shatt al-Arab waterway to the Iranian port of Abadan, a project that is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Iranian conservatives had hoped such signals meant that the United States was prepared to parlay. But subsequent events have shown that such hopes were misplaced.
Editor's note:
Jim Lobe is a freelance reporter specializing in financial affairs. He is based in Washington.
