Courting Iran

By Gamal Salama

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Once branded a member of the "axis of evil", Iran is being courted by the Americans. Not that the latter are about to forget Tehran's much- maligned nuclear programme, but they seem to be getting nicer all of a sudden.

In January, General David Petraeus, the top US commander in the Middle East, said that Washington and Tehran should get together to sort out problems in Afghanistan. In April, the Iranians got an invitation to a conference on Afghanistan in The Hague; Deputy Foreign Minister Mohamed-Mehdi Akhoundzadeh and the US envoy to Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, had the first high-level meeting between the two countries since 1980.

The meeting was "brief but cordial", Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later said. She also mentioned that Iran and the US have a common interest in promoting stability in Afghanistan. Clinton also noted that she asked Tehran to release three American detainees as a gesture of goodwill.

Iran is so far listening, but everyone expects it to ask for something before getting the US off the Afghan hook. It is known that Tehran, which doesn't really care much for the Taliban, is helping them out just to spite the Americans. In Iraq, the Iranians helped everyone, Shia or Sunni, who was willing to give the occupiers a hard time. Call it "managing chaos", but it worked.

The Americans now want Tehran on their side. But before relations between the two countries improve substantially, Washington will have to offer something in return. For example, the Americans have military bases in Afghanistan, which they can use to attack Iran. Tehran will want something done about that. Also the Iranians are friends with the Russians, who are not keen on helping the Americans right now. So to get the Iranians on their side, the Americans should start being nicer to Moscow as well.

It's a new ballgame, and one that is much different from the one the Bush administration used to play.

This week's Soapbox speaker is professor of political science at Suez Canal University.