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USADI
Commentary
Ahmadinejad's Ploy Dead on
Arrival
Tehran’s advocates on both sides of the Atlantic
have been pushing hard for “direct talks” or a
"Grand Bargain" with the clerical regime. Their
rigorous campaign could undermine the
administration’s diplomatic efforts at the UN
Security Council to bring pressure on Iran to
halt its nuclear weapons drive. On Monday,
Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also acted
to thwart the UN debate. He sent a letter to
President G. W. Bush via the Swiss Embassy in
Tehran to propose "new solutions for getting out
of international problems and the current
fragile situation of the world."
Ahmadinejad’s letter fully fits with Tehran's
established pattern of diplomatic games to stall
for badly needed time. It was clearly timed to
complicate the start of a new round of
diplomatic efforts at the Security Council,
aiming to widen fissures among its members:
kudos to the administration for swiftly
dismissing it.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rejected the
letter by saying "There is nothing in this
letter that in any way addresses any of the
issues... I don't see it as an opening...
There's nothing in here that would suggest that
we're on any different course than we were
before we got the letter... Absence of
communication isn't really the problem here. We
and the international community have been very
clear with the Iranians what they need to do."
The dispatching of the letter is however
significant since it is a clear admission by
Tehran that the diplomatic efforts by Washington
and its allies within the Security Council and
outside of it are having an impact on Tehran. It
shows that despite Ahmadinejad’s statement that
his regime does "not give a damn about such
resolutions” – short of actually halting the
nuclear program as mandated by the international
community - Tehran regime will do any thing to
prevent a punitive sanction regime endorsed by
the Security Council.
Patrick Clawson, the deputy director for
research of the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy, wrote last month that “To show the
Iranian elite that they are paying a price for
their nuclear activities, we have to step up the
pressure… While we await a U.N. decision on
formal international sanctions, we and our
friends can apply ‘de facto sanctions.”
On Monday the Financial Times reported
that “The US is looking to the financial sector
to increase pressure on Iran to back down over
its nuclear programme... While the US pursues
the imposition of formal sanctions on Iran at
the United Nations, officials are also seeking
to leverage the private sector.” Shareholder
resolutions have helped persuade five US
companies, including General Electric and Aon,
to alter their Iran posture. There have also
been discussions about raising the costs of
loans and guarantees for doing business with
Iran, the Financial Times reported.
Iran's economy has declined in recent years
despite rising oil prices. Endemic unemployment
and high inflation continue to cripple Tehran's
economy, while most of the country's $45 billion
in oil revenues remain in the hands of the
ruling elite and allocated for Tehran’s nuclear
program, funding its sponsorship of its
terrorist network and its expansionist campaign
in Iraq. Many ecumenists in Iran have been
raising the red-flags for months that a UN
sanction regime could very well destabilize the
regime.
Ahmadinejad's budget was recently approved by
the Majlis. Many economists in Iran described it
as “politically motivated”, “fiscally unsound”,
and “inflationary.” His budget is filled with
band-aid like remedies and short-term economic
fixes to ease rising public discontent. It does
do not even get close to tackling the major
systematic and structural problems which have
plagued Iran’s economy.
In a recent call-in program on the
Farsi-language Radio Farda, a caller from
Iran said: "The Iranian establishment claims
that nuclear energy is the right of the Iranian
nation. Aren't freedom and democracy the right
of the Iranian people? The oil money is not the
right of the Iranian people? Why the names of
Palestine, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and Syria are
included in our annual budget? Are they partners
in our oil money or are they from one of Iran's
provinces?"
Another caller from Tehran told Radio Farda
that "In my opinion, Iran's nuclear case must
have been taken to the UN Security Council,
because this regime has threatened the life of
70 million people with its nuclear ambitions.”
The Bush Administration was correct to swiftly
dismiss Ahmadinejad’s letter-writing ploy. The
work at the Security Council for a meaningful
sanction to target regime in Tehran and its
funding of nefarious and rogue activities must
go on unabated. (USADI)
USADI
Commentary reflects the viewpoints of the US Alliance
for Democratic Iran in respect to issues and events
which directly or indirectly impact the US policy toward
Iran |