Tremors within

The presidents of the United States and Iran are under fire for their respective foreign policies towards each other, reports Rasha Saad

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Washington and Tehran have alarmingly intensified the psychological war ongoing between them during the last month.

In a move that was interpreted as an attempt to counter Iran's missile capacity and naval power, the United States has moved two aircraft carriers -- the Eisenhower and the Stennis -- to within quick sailing distance of Iran, and has ordered Patriot missile defence systems to the Gulf Cooperation Council states.

The move was significant because it followed a series of escalating measures Washington undertook that included attempts to cripple Iran's banking system, as well as the financing of its external trade, by pressuring international banks not to deal with Iran. Washington has reportedly urged several major companies to stop trading with Iran.

The US has also taken steps to prevent Iran from blocking oil shipments in the Gulf. Also, US troops have arrested Iranian officials in three different incidents in Iraq, accusing them of financing and arming Iraqi insurgents. On 10 January, President Bush declared, "we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq." The US is also planning to stiffen sanctions against Iran if it fails to suspend its uranium enrichment activities by early February, as stipulated by UN Security Council Resolution 1737 issued 23 December.

While these moves have aroused fears in the West and in the Arab world -- fears that President Bush is heading towards war -- Washington's escalation was particularly stark as it comes shortly after the Iraq Study Group, or Baker-Hamilton commission, recommended that the Bush Administration engage Iran in some form of dialogue. Instead, the Bush administration is choosing to threaten it.

According to Egyptian political analyst Abdel-Azim Hammad, tightening its grip on Iran might be aimed at improving Washington's chances to initiate a dialogue in which it has the upper hand during talks. "Bush would not rush to implement the Baker-Hamilton recommendations, to escape appearing vulnerable before initiating a dialogue with Iran."

According to Hammad, Bush would publicly refuse to initiate a dialogue with Iran unless the Islamic republic cooperates in face-saving manoeuvres for Bush. "Until this happens, the US will insist that Iran comprehend that the US quagmire in Iraq does not mean that Washington is politically or militarily impotent."

Another theory is that the US new policy is based on the assumption that Tehran will back down from its nuclear ambitions if the US hits it hard in Iraq and elsewhere, creating a sense of vulnerability among Iranian leaders.

In this context, President Bush last week denied widespread speculations that his administration was preparing for military action against Iran. Bush confirmed his authorisation to US troops to shoot and kill Iranian operatives in Iraq, but denied this was prelude to stronger action. Any suggestion, Bush said, that he wished to widen the confrontation with Iran was "not accurate". "We're going to continue to protect ourselves in Iraq and at the same time work to solve their problems with Iran diplomatically, and I believe we can succeed. The choice is the Iranian government's," he said.

The policy has riled some influential sceptics inside the Bush administration and the intelligence community who advise that any pressure on Iran needs to be carefully measured, since Iran, too, has the capacity to escalate the confrontation, both in Iraq and elsewhere. CIA Director-General Michael V Hayden counselled the president to consider that Iran could undertake to kill or capture US personnel in Iraq or neighbouring Afghanistan.

In an editorial of The Washington Post this week, the paper wrote: "what's needed is a mix of pressure with avenues for moderation by Tehran." The editorial also explained that hardline policy "ignores the very differences between extremists and moderates that can now be glimpsed in Tehran, and it invites Ahmadinejad to rally the country on a nationalist platform."

The sharpest criticism however came from the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator John D Rockefeller IV, who on Friday chided the Bush administration for its increasingly combative stance towards Iran, saying that White House efforts to portray Iran as a growing threat are uncomfortably reminiscent of rhetoric about Iraq before the American invasion of 2003. He added that the administration was building a case against Tehran even as American intelligence agencies know little about either Iran's internal dynamics or its intentions in the Middle East.

"To be quite honest, I'm a little concerned that it's Iraq again," Senator Rockefeller said. "This whole concept of moving against Iran is bizarre. I don't think that policy-makers in this administration particularly understand Iran," he added.

Rockefeller's views reportedly carry weight; he is one of a handful of lawmakers with access to the most classified intelligence about the threat from Iran.

Meanwhile, the Islamic republic has not stood hand-tied in the face of US escalations. On Monday, Tehran began military manoeuvres in its central desert, testing short-range missiles. State radio reported that Revolutionary Guards were test-firing both the 350 kilometre-range Zelzal-1 missile and the 70 kilometre-range Fajr-5 missile near the town of Garmsar, 80 kilometres southeast of Tehran.

In defiance of US policy against Iran in Iraq, Iran's Ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qumi told The New York Times in an interview this week that his country was prepared to offer training, equipment and advisers to Iraqi government forces. Qumi also said in a recent news conference that Iranian policy in Iraq is "clear and going forward".

He added: "we are happy with the Iraqi government. The kidnapping of our diplomats will have no effect at all on our help and cooperation with the Iraqi side... We are only at the first stages of this support."

Iran last week barred 38 inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency because they came from countries that voted for sanctions on Iran. As Russia's national security adviser, Igor Ivanov, paid a important visit to Tehran Sunday, Iranian state radio reported that Iran was looking to Russia for "new proposals" and expects Russia to "take a close stance with the international community" to help Iran resolve its nuclear standoff.

However, while Iran remains publicly defiant, insisting it will move ahead with its nuclear ambitions, President Ahmadinejad is under increasing strain as political and economic pressures grow. Editorials in normally uncritical hardline newspapers have been criticising Ahmadinejad for being too aggressive towards the West.

When President Ahmadinejad dismissed UN Security Council Resolution 1737 as "a piece of torn paper", the daily newspaper Jomhouri-Eslami, which belongs to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote that, "the resolution is certainly harmful for the country," adding that it is "too much to call it a piece of torn paper".

And in comments released Monday, Iran's most senior dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, joined the chorus of criticism of Ahmadinejad for his "radical and provocative slogans", and argued that Iran's rights could be defended without giving "pretexts" to the US.

Ahmadinejad's internal policies have also been criticised. The stock market is dropping, and capital flight is accelerating.

A group of Iranian reformist and moderate members of parliament have now started collecting signatures to summon him to answer questions about his policies. It has so far gathered 63 signatures and needs only a further nine to be effective. Meanwhile, proceedings are underway to impeach four of Ahmadinejad's ministers who are accused of incompetence.

Iran's beleaguered president is also facing a powerful challenge from his fiercest political rival, Hashemi Rafsanjani. Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative who was defeated by Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential elections, believes Iran may have to yield to Western demands to suspend uranium enrichment in order to save the country's Islamic system from collapse.

Rafsanjani is reportedly trying to persuade the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali, that negotiations are essential to avoid a potentially disastrous conflict with the US or Israel.

Rafsanjani reportedly demonstrated his growing influence over the nuclear issue in a meeting this week with Britain's ambassador to Tehran, Geoffrey Adams. He told Adams that Iran was willing to submit to "any verifying measures of the responsible authorities" to prove the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme, which many in the West suspect is aimed at developing an atomic bomb.

Meanwhile, alarmed by such warnings and mounting US pressure and UN sanctions, officials close to Khamenei reportedly said that Iran's supreme leader is considering the appointment of a more moderate team for international nuclear negotiations.

According to sources in Tehran, one of the possible members of a new Iranian negotiating team would be Mohamed Moussavian, a former senior nuclear negotiator and an ally of Rafsanjani.

Last week Moussavian accused Ahmadinejad of "misleading the country about the dangers it faced as a result of UN penalties".