THE
ROVING EYE What they think in
Tehran By Pepe Escobar
TEHRAN - A day after the UN Security
Council, in a non-binding decision, gave Iran one
month to stop enriching uranium, the Nayeb
restaurant, serving the best kebab in Tehran for
the upper middle classes, was absolutely packed
for lunch.
In this worldly, secular
atmosphere - no clerics, only two chador-clad
women in sight, and most displaying authentic
Hermes and Burberry scarves - some were
nonetheless incensed that the decision in New York
was timed to a particularly holy holiday in the
Islamic Republic: the anniversary of the death of Prophet
Muhammad. The Iranian
government has officially designated 2006 as "The
Year of the Prophet".
Prophets of a more
prosaic nature risk their take on the nuclear row.
"We don't need a bomb," said a businessman with
extensive interests in Dubai. "And even if we did,
we could buy from the Chinese or the Pakistanis,
or in the Russian black market."
Some
accuse the EU-3 (England, France and Germany) of
being two-faced, some point out that "the Italians
told us they also want to be part of the
negotiations, they want to invest even more here".
Tehran's Westernized upper middle classes may not
be die-hard fans of Iran's theocratic nationalism,
but virtually everyone agrees with Foreign
Minister Manuchehr Mottaki about the "unjustified
propaganda" of the West regarding Iran's nuclear
program. As to a specific Mottaki warning that "we
have readied ourselves to meet any threat", many
are not so sure.
Before Friday's prayers -
when top clerics inevitably lash out against "US
imperialism" - Tehran had just responded to the UN
via ambassadors and foreign ministry officials.
The single most important authority in the Islamic
Republic - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -
had not yet issued his verdict. But the consensus
remains virtually iron clad, cutting across all
social and intellectual barriers, that Iran has
the right to a civilian nuclear program and is now
the victim of double standards by both the US and
the European Union.
From bazaaris and taxi
drivers to clerics and economic analysts, Iranians
also openly charge that the nuclear row is just an
excuse by the US to undermine the Islamic
Republic. Few would disagree with Iran's UN
ambassador, Jafed Zarif, who said in New York,
after the statement was approved, that "the single
most active instigator of the concern about Iran
is Israel, which is not a member of the NPT
[nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty], is a known
possessor of nuclear weapons, has a history of
aggression against its neighbors, is in
non-compliance with I don't know how many Security
Council resolutions".
Zarif also charged
that he was prevented from addressing the Security
Council to make Iran's case. "We have been told
this was a matter of procedure, but I believe it
was more than that."
A few minutes away
from the Nayeb restaurant, widely respected
Ebrahim Yazdi, a former foreign minister under
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, seems to have a
solution to defuse the crisis.
"Iran
should accept part of the Russian proposal, with a
definite timetable for the completion of the
Bushehr plant," said Yazdi, who "translated"
Khomeini to the world in the late 1970s and is
currently the secretary-general of the Freedom
Movement of Iran, an opposition party. "After 40
years, we would finally have our electricity
network."
The Russians have been working
on the Bushehr nuclear reactor for years but have
never guaranteed a date to finish the project, he
said. At the same time they are still offering to
enrich uranium in Russia in a joint venture with
Iran, as along as it is part of a civilian
program.
Russia and China only approved
the UN statement because it does not imply
sanctions against Tehran. Russia's UN ambassador,
Andrei Denisov, once again stressed that there was
no evidence by the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) that Iran has embarked on a nuclear
weapons program. Both Russia and China - as well
as Germany and Italy - want the IAEA to solve the
matter, not the Security Council.
A
US-educated economic analyst commented: "But the
statement was a blow to Iran anyway because the
government was sure both Russia and China would
never allow the US to deny Iran's rights under the
NPT."
Yazdi's proposal concentrates on
Bushehr. With the nuclear reactor completed, "Iran
would have time to develop mutual trust" with the
Europeans. The country should then welcome
European investors "to come to Iran and enrich
uranium here as joint ventures". Yazdi does not
consider uranium enrichment in Russia a good idea
- nor do Iranian negotiators for that matter. But
Yazdi goes beyond that, charging that the Iranians
"did not comprehend the full meaning of the
Russian proposal". He dismisses the negotiators'
"Cold War mentality". As a former foreign minister
who knows the West in depth, Yazdi is on overdrive
in the Iranian media, offering unofficial advice
to the Iranian side.
He's adamant though
that "if the Americans and the Europeans want to
control and tame the Iranian government, this will
only add fuel to the fire of the extreme
rightists." He added that "the rightists even
justify political repression at home by referring
to the American government's internal policy after
9/11."
"Any foreign threat" - such as the
ones constantly issued by Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and US Ambassador to the UN John
Bolton - "will backfire". For Yazdi, "the only way
to control Iranian nuclear activities is to help
democracy in Iran. For us, the restriction of our
civil liberties is more important than a nuclear
program."
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