CASMII Press Release

1 August 2007

Second round of Iran-US talks: Cheney camp pushes for war

The second round of historic US-Iran talks on 24th July, was held against a background of hyped up and sustained accusations against Iran. These ranged from Iran's involvement with AlQaeda, to its support for Sunni insurgents as well as various Shiia militias in Iraq. Iran was accused on 2nd July briefing of US army General, Bergner, of killing American servicemen.

The alarming and unanimous passage with 97 votes to zero by the US Congress of an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill drafted by the leading proponent of war with Iran, Sen Lieberman, on 11th July, which accuses Iran of "intolerable acts of hostility towards the US" and demands the US government to take "Immediate action" can be regarded as the prelude to a declaration of war.

Gareth Porter, the leading US political analyst, alerts [1] us to a "new narrative" that "threatens to obscure the bigger picture of Iranian policy toward Iraq, widely recognized by regional specialists." He quotes Dr. James A. Russell, lecturer in National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a specialist on security affairs in the Persian Gulf region, that Iran and the US "do indeed share common strategic interests in Iraq", the problem, is that "the history of the relationship and domestic political constituencies pose serious obstacles to realizing those common interests. Two such obstacles are "the very powerful political constituency for attacking Iran" and support for Israel."

However despite this fraught background, the realities of the convergence of the Iranian and the US strategic interests in the establishment of stability in Iraq was demonstrated by the agreement on the day between the two parties to set up a subcommittee to work on stabilizing Iraq.

The Iranian government's declaration, following the meeting, of its willingness to hold higher level dialogue, and the American government's response of rejecting this prospect, was a barometer of the rapidly shifting balance and the imprints of the Cheney camp. Allegations of Iranian involvement in the violence in Iraq which dominated the talks were continued afterwards by a new accusation on 26th July, two days after the talks, that the increasingly successful mortar attacks by the militia on the Green Zone in Baghdad -Capital of a country which had one of the most advanced militaries in the Middle East- bore the mark of Iranian training!

Such accusations even though rejected by the vast majority of independent analysts, are by design intended to sabotage the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the US. They lead to the marginalisation of pro-dialogue voices in both camps and only serve to create an unnecessarily heated environment in which it will be ever more difficult for the United States to secure the help of Iraq’s neighbours in bringing stability to that country and to the wider Middle East.

Abbas Edalat of CASMII said today: "What is at stake now with the bilateral talks is not just the resolution of the mayhem in Iraq but the unravelling of the Iran-US stand off and the prospect of peace regionally. We now witness the extremely delicate balance holding the possibility of their success. Tilting one way or another means the possibility of peace or certainty of war".

CASMII calls on all politicians and decision makers as well as journalists and media outlets to stand firmly for peace and remain vigilant of a similar scenario based on false allegations and lies which led to the invasion of Iraq, this time in play against Iran.

For more information or to contact CASMII please visit  http://www.campaigniran.org

Notes:

[1]  http://www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=11351

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