Rewriting US-Iran Relations

The tense relationship between Teheran and Washington goes back many decades — from the days when the United States helped install Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1953 coup against an elected Iranian government, to the 1979 seizure of American diplomats by students in Teheran after the Shah fell to an Islamic revolution.

A lot more added to the bitterness since then, but the more recent strains emerged over Teheran’s nuclear programme, which it insists is for peaceful purposes. The United States has so far maintained that the programme is meant to produce nuclear weapons.

It is in this background that President Barack Obama in his inauguration speech offered to extend his hand and then in an interview with a Dubai-based television expressed willingness to talk with Teheran. Obama’s overture was backed by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who said that Iran has a clear opportunity to engage with the international community.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may seem to have spurned the offer by asking the US to apologise for its actions against Iran. He also went on to say that his country would carefully listen and study the new US administration’s statements and moves.

There’s no argument that Obama is aware of the utter failure the US foreign policy has suffered in this part of the world. And that progress towards a more peaceful Middle East is part of his mandate. The Guardian reported on Thursday that Obama administration was preparing a letter to Iran intended to warm relations and pave the way for direct talks between Washington and Teheran. In fact, according to the paper, work on the document began immediately following the November election, upon receipt of a letter of congratulations sent to the president-elect by none other than Ahmadinejad himself.

US interests in normalising relations with Teheran are clear. A peaceful Middle East ensures that the hundreds of billion dollars in investment and hundreds of million barrels of oil remain accessible, and the US stays as the effective power as most understand in the region and beyond.

Iran, however, will have to first develop a consensus within on why would it want to have any relations with the Americans, and what it envisages its role to be in a region where most nations perceive Teheran as more of a risk than a friend. There are no terms that Iran can dictate to the US, whose forces surround the country from all four sides.

The extended hand of Obama is not that of a defeated nation. The move reflects a confident president, and the extended hand should be met with equal poise from the other side.

The people of Iran have a lot to gain from a Middle East free of wars and conflicts. There is no reason why a resourceful nation like Iran has any less clout than emerging powers like China, India, Russia and Brazil.