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3 'The door we never
opened ...' By M K Bhadrakumar
the sons of the late King Faisal,
who dominated the diplomatic and intelligence
services for decades". At any rate, Khamenei
reserved some of his harshest words in his
hajj message for the pro-Western Arab
leaderships that have aligned with the US and
Britain (and Israel) in pressuring Iran.
Khamenei said: "Today any divisive action
in the Islamic world is a historical sin. Those
who maliciously use takfir to declare large
groups
of Muslims as unbelievers, those who insult the
sanctities of various divisions of Islam, those
who betray and put a dagger in the back of the
Lebanese youth who are a source of honor for the
Muslim ummah, those who speak of the
fabricated hostilities and lawlessness in Iraq to
defeat its Islamic and popular government, and
those who put pressure on the elected Hamas
government in Palestine, whether intentionally or
unintentionally, will be regarded as culprits,
detested by history and future generations, and
looked upon as mercenaries of the brutal enemy."
Iran is watching closely the growing
coordination of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt
with Israel at the operative level in Lebanon and
Palestine. Israel, of course, has not hesitated to
"leak" from time to time the details of its covert
dealings with Riyadh and Cairo. Thus Iran has
dismissed out of hand the Arab League special
envoy's mission to Beirut last month and his
four-point mediation formula for the consideration
of Hezbollah.
Supreme Leader Khamenei told
the visiting Palestinian prime minister and Hamas
leader Ismail Haniya in Tehran on December 10 that
through "resistance and perseverance",
Palestinians would certainly regain control of all
their occupied land, and that Hamas could count on
Iran's "full support".
Despite such
posturing and rhetoric, however, Iran is hoping
that the Bush administration doesn't yet have a
clear strategy on Iraq, and Washington is still
weighing options. Tehran knows also that
Washington is left with no political card to play
other than resorting to pressure tactics against
Iran at the present juncture.
The point
is, at a time when Iran has begun openly opposing
Anglo-US strategy, it is arguably an admission of
defeat for Washington to open direct talks with
Tehran. Beyond the pressure tactic at the
political-diplomatic level, the feasibility of a
military option against Iran also remains an open
issue. Equally, it is also necessary for
Washington to prevent Iran from becoming an
influential country in the region.
Surely,
Iran must remain on guard that the current debate
in the US about the consequences of defeat in Iraq
is still premised on the unilateral use of US
power. That, in turn, forces Tehran to reason
every possible outcome of each action and
counteraction. Tehran cannot have the freedom to
suspend its fixated self at will.
T S
Eliot's words come to mind while reflecting on the
tortuous course that US-Iran relations are
destined to take in the year ahead. "Footfalls
echo in the memory down the passage which we did
not take towards the door we never opened into the
rose garden ..."
M K Bhadrakumar
served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign
Service for more than 29 years, with postings
including ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-98) and
to Turkey (1998-2001).
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