Peace between Arabs and Israel; U.S. Administration’s Primary Goal

In an interview with ABC channel, Barack Obama named Iran as the biggest challenge United States is facing. He also added that his administration will emphasize respect for the Iranian nation, but will also spell out its expectations from the Iranian leaders.   Iranian Diplomacy has interview Mohsen Jalilvand, international affairs expert:   What does the Obama administration particularly expect from Iranian leaders?   I believe United States’ strategies are immutable. In his latest remarks Stephen Hadley said that Iran is the most serious challenge for the next U.S. president. Obama exactly repeated this statement in his interview. So this shows that the strategy defined in Washington is neither related to Republicans and Bush, nor to Obama and the Democrats. Every administration has to follow it.   The difference is in the way they follow the strategy. Obama has appointed Dennis Ross as his Mideast envoy and we know about his policies. For years, he had been Clinton’s special Middle East coordinator. Also Democrats are more pro-Israel in their policies. So it seems Obama follows a plan of using soft power at first step, and imposing sanctions or similar measures after that. Initially, he will start with a policy of negotiative offense.   What do you mean by policy of negotiative offense?   This is a defined tactic in U.S. foreign policy. Americans stress on negotiations with Iran, but based on what Mr. Ross says negotiations aren’t important per se, but their topic is important. This policy usually causes the other side to react.   Obama has talked of initiating a new approach which engages Iran. What would these fields of engagement be?   What he said was ambiguous and [as you mentioned] we must know in what fields they speak of engagement. Iran participated in talks with U.S. on Iraq and on Afghanistan, Iran joined the Berlin Conference, negotiated with the Americans, and took part in reconstructing Afghanistan. So we must know what Obama is talking about. Are they going to let Iran into regional security arrangements? Is United States going to admit Iran in its strategic policies?   Based on Denis Ross’ point of view, negotiations aren’t important per se, but it’s the topic that makes them important. The basic objective of Americans is peace between Arabs and Israelis. I believe this crisis will not be solved unless Iran is let into the game. Their other priority relates to Persian Gulf, again meaningless is Iran is not involved. Terrorism is another problem. Sunni countries of the region are the birthplace of terrorism and as a Shiite country Iran has never fostered the terrorism which United States talks about. Most of the accomplices in 9/11 attack were from Saudi Arabia, United States’ close friend.   So I think United States must definitely sit at the table of negotiations with Iran if it wants to achieve something. Iran has never fostered or encouraged terrorism; however, it is considered as a terrorist country.   Could Iran and United States’ cooperation on Iraq and Afghanistan lead to talks on the nuclear program?   Iran’s nuclear program is not a real challenge for Americans. Iran is not a nuclear threat. United States has made mountain out of a molehill on this issue, and they’re just using it as a means of pressuring Iran. If Washington solves its macro-level problems with Tehran the nuclear issue is solved automatically. The Americans initiated the program themselves during the Pahlavi regime.