Exclusive:
former Iranian president says opportunity to engage is unprecedented but
consequences of failure could be global
 |
| Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. He has the authority to resolve problems with the west diplomatically, says Mohammad Khatami. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP |
The leader
of Iran's reformist movement, Mohammad Khatami, has urged the west to show
courage and work with President Hassan Rouhani or risk losing an unprecedented
opportunity to end the current standoff.
In an
article published in the Guardian today, Khatami, a former president of Iran,
said on the eve of Rouhani's eagerly anticipated visit to the UN that the
moderate cleric had "the necessary authority" for a diplomatic
resolution to the longstanding differences between Tehran and the west, not
least on the nuclear issue. He warned that failure would strengthen extremists
on both sides.
Speaking
before leaving Tehran for New York , Rouhani pledged to revamp Iran's image,
which he said had been distorted. But he fell short of blaming his predecessor,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who delivered anti-western tirades each time he spoke at
the UN.
Rouhani is
scheduled to deliver his speech a few hours after Barack Obama's welcoming
statement on Tuesday, amid speculation that the first face-to-face encounter
between leaders of the two countries since the 1970s will take place. Rouhani will
also be accompanied on his visit by Iran's only Jewish MP.
The EU's
foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who met Iran's foreign minister,
Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Monday in New York to talk about the country's nuclear
programme, described her discussions as constructive. According to Ashton,
Zarif and the US secretary of state, John Kerry, will meet on Thursday in what
will become the first ministerial talks between Tehran and Washington since the
Islamic revolution in 1979.
Britain's
foreign secretary, William Hague, met Zarif for the first time on Monday night
and discussed the nuclear issue and Syria. They also talked about the prospect
of gradually restoring full diplomatic relations between the UK and Iran, which
were severely damaged when the British embassy in Tehran was over-run by a mob
in November 2011. Hague made clear Britain required solid guarantees from
Tehran that its diplomats could operate in safety.
"We
don't want a confrontational relationship with Iran," Hague said after the
meeting with Zarif.
"We
have discussed how to improve our bilateral relations but it will have to take
place on a step-by-step basis. I think we are agreed on this. So we have asked
our officials to some work on this. Ultimately for Britain to be able to operate
an embassy in Tehran again, we would have to know that the embassy could
perform all the normal functions of an embassy without harassment and
difficulties that it had to face before."
British
officials said that no further meetings had been scheduled but that British and
Iranian diplomats would be meeting in the coming weeks to discuss how to
re-establish confidence in Tehran's intentions..
Khatami,
meanwhile, is throwing his weight behind Rouhani in the hope that lessons are
learned from missed opportunities under his own presidency.
"For
the first time there is an opportunity to create a national consensus above and
beyond partisan factionalism, which may address the political predicaments of
the country with an emphasis on dialogue and mutual understanding
globally," Khatami writes in his first article published in a foreign
newspaper.
According
to Khatami, Rouhani enjoys backing from all segments of Iranian society in his
bid to pursue "constructive engagement" with the west, including from
the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who has shown some softening in his views
about diplomacy recently.
In a
further move to boost Rouhani's credibility at the UN, Khamenei on Monday
declared an amnesty for 80 political prisoners, including many arrested in the
aftermath of the disputed 2009 election.
Khatami's
intervention comes as 500 prominent Iranian intellectuals and activists wrote to Obama, telling the American president that it is now his turn to
reciprocate.
Signatories
to the letter – also published exclusively by the Guardian – include the
Oscar-winning film director Asghar Farhadi, the imprisoned reformist Mostafa
Tajzadeh and the prominent intellectual Saeed Hajjarian.
"The
people of Iran seized the opportunity to elect Hassan Rouhani … as a result, we
have witnessed the release of several political prisoners and relative progress
in the country's public and political atmosphere," the letter says.
"It is
now your turn, and that of the international community, to reciprocate Iran's
measures of goodwill and pursue a win-win strategy that encompasses the lifting
of the unjust economic sanctions on Iran."
At least 88
of the signatories are former or current political prisoners, some still
serving lengthy prison terms. Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, a former political
prisoner who was behind the letter, said if Rouhani meets Obama, it will pave
the way for a positive change in Iran's internal political atmosphere.
He said:
"This letter … says with a loud voice that Rouhani has the support of
reformists and those seeking for democracy in Iran."
Hajjarian,
who was the target of an assassination attempt in March 2000, echoed
Jalaeipour, saying sanctions have hurt the quality of ordinary people's lives
in Iran. "The US has not yet realised the changes that have been taking
place after people's vote [for Rouhani]," he told the Guardian.
Under
Khatami's administration between 1997 and 2005, Iran opened up towards the
west, even helping American forces in Afghanistan, but was nevertheless
labelled a part of the "axis of evil", along with Iraq and North
Korea, by George Bush. Khatami's support was crucial in Rouhani's sensational
victory in the June election.
In his
article, the ex-president warns that diplomatic mistakes now will have
consequences beyond Iran's borders later. "Failure now to create an
atmosphere of trust and meaningful dialogue will only further boost extremist
forces on all sides. The consequences of such a failure will not only be
regional but global," Khatami writes. "For a better world, not only
for the Iranian people but for the next generation across the globe, I
earnestly hope that President Rouhani will receive a warm welcome and
meaningful responses during his visit to the UN."
Sadeq
Zibakalam, a Tehran University professor and one of the signatories of the
letter, said different factions within the Iranian establishment, including
fundamentalists, had come to the conclusion that Iran needed a rapprochement
with the US: "They have realised that without this, they can't bring
changes to Iran's current dire situation, especially its economy."
Zibakalam
warned that if Rouhani fails to engage with the US, "his position in Iran
will be significantly weakened" and he will have a hard time in the next
four years.
Iran's
currency significantly recovered against the dollar on Monday, rising to its
strongest value in several months. Expectations of a Rouhani-Obama meeting come
as a poll commissioned by the international civic organisation Avaaz, was
released showing strong support both in the US and in Iran for an improvement
in bilateral relations. It showed that, of those who expressed an opinion, 74%
of Americans and 80% of Iranians support direct talks.
Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif to meet John Kerry at UN
Hassan Rouhani tells UN: Iran poses no threat to the world
Related Articles:
Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif to meet John Kerry at UN
Hassan Rouhani tells UN: Iran poses no threat to the world
"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)
“… I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore. "Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.