Whether Ms. Rice has dramatically turned the administration around on Iran or whether she's their patsy du jour, the spin from the State Department and from the White House (echoed in the U.S. media) is that last week's agreement on a package of incentives for Iran if it were to give up uranium enrichment, along with Ms. Rice's statement to the Iranians, are indications of strong U.S. diplomacy, and even that the U.S. gaining the upper hand in its conflict with Iran. The reality is quite different.
Iran On Condi's Mind
Homan Majd
06 June 2006
... The U.S. has done as well as it can under the circumstances, but the diplomatic initiatives, spun as advances for America, are actually retreats and in some ways a defeat. Up until now, the U.S. has consistently made it clear that it desires a full Chapter 7 resolution on Iran in the Security Council (and that it might form another "coalition of the willing" if that doesn't work); Russian and Chinese objections have rendered moot a strong resolution allowing for sanctions and the use of force. The U.S. has also consistently argued that "all options are on the table"; today, according to the agreement reached with Russian and Chinese participation, some options most certainly are not, at least not with any international legitimacy, even if Iran chooses the so-called sticks over the so-called carrots.
Lastly, the U.S. has pointedly refused direct communication with Iran for almost 27 years; last Wednesday John Bolton was dialing the phone number of his Iranian counterpart at the U.N., asking if he could fax over the statement by his boss. (Mr. Bolton's subsequent remark that it was time for the Iranians to "put up or shut up" betrayed either his neo-con tendency to subvert diplomacy or his sheer idiocy. Anyone with a clue about Iranians, the culture and their language knows that the term "shut up" translates as a deep insult in Farsi, far more so than intended in English, but besides that, with the statement he was undoubtedly pained to have had to deliver to the Iranians, wasn't it the U.S. that had just chosen to "put up" rather than shut up"? ...
>>> Full article @ Huffington Post
