Ahmadinejad shows soft side in New
York By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
NEW YORK - He may be scorned and vilified
constantly in the US media, but President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in his latest trip to New York to
attend the United Nations General Assembly opted
for a less combative and more conciliatory
approach than in past US trips.
On Monday,
at a private meeting with some US media heavies as
well as members of US think tanks, Ahmadinejad
addressed a broad range of issues, including the
future of US-Iran relations, Syria, Afghanistan,
the nuclear issue and, of course, Israel's threat
of military action against Iran.
While
dismissing Israel's threat as "not serious,"
Ahmadinejad nonetheless accused Tel Aviv of
seeking "adventures" in order to
exit the "dead end it
finds itself today". He lashed out at "a few
Zionists" who blackmail the US leaders, wondering
aloud how could this came about and how long
before the American people spoke out against such
intrusions in their domestic affairs.
His
comment came in response to a reporter's question
that noted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's image was being shown in political
advertisements promoting Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney in the state of Florida.
When pressed to express his preference for the
upcoming US presidential elections, Ahmadinejad
responded that he would not make any comment that
would in the least be considered as interfering in
US elections.
Although some of what he
told his audience has been heard before,
Ahmadinejad impressed them by expressing his
desire to cooperate with US on Afghanistan "in
many ways" since there were "common interests that
outweighed the differences". He recalled that
after 9/11, the US responded to Iran's cooperation
on Afghanistan by placing it in the "axis of
evil". He said Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan were
increasingly cooperating on Kabul's issues and
"more countries can join as long as long they are
interested in peace and security".
On the
nuclear issue, Ahmadinejad insisted that Iran's
nuclear program is peaceful and under inspection
by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
adding that Iran's offer to ship out a bulk of its
20% enriched uranium was still on the table. This
may be welcome news to the Europeans in
particular, who are keen on continuing the
multilateral nuclear talks with Iran partly to
avoid the unwanted headache of an Iran-Israel war.
An Iran military commander recently said such a
conflict has the potential to drag other nations
in and become a "World War 3".
As for the
US's decision last week to de-list the Iranian
dissident group Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) from its
terror list, Ahmadinejad insisted that this was a
wrong move that showed double standards on
terrorism. "This group is responsible for the
murder of a popular president and a prime minister
and thousands of innocent people." He said that by
proving that the US was complicity with a
terrorist group, Washington had given Iran a major
public relations boost.
Regarding the
conflict in Syria, Ahmadinejad stated that at the
recent Non-Aligned Movement conference in Tehran,
the issue of Iran forming a "contact group" was
raised, which Iran is now pursuing with Egypt,
Turkey, and (to a lesser extent) Saudi Arabia. "We
are for free elections and national dialogue in
Syria," Ahmadinejad said, denying reports that an
Iranian military commander has admitted that Iran
is training pro-Bashar al-Assad militias.
"That report has been officially denied,"
he insisted. With respect to the "Middle East
Quartet," there were plans for meetings on the
sideline of UN gathering, in light of Egyptian
President Morsi's attendance and his stated desire
to push this initiative forward in his New York
visit.
But perhaps the most important
aspect of his communications with the US audience
was his desire to explore the possibilities for a
"new approach" in US-Iran relations, one that
could draw on lessons of the past.
"We
must first understand how we got here," he said,
recalling that the US fully backed the
pre-revolutionary monarchy yet "never acknowledged
the popular system that replaced it". Citing the
US's support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war as
yet another major error on the US's part,
Ahmadinejad called on US to formally apologize for
the 1987 downing of an Iranian passenger airline
killing more than 200 passengers. He touched on
the tensions in Persian Gulf and welcomed
guardedly the idea of "an agreement in sea" aimed
at avoiding accidental clash - although he said
the best option was for all foreign forces to
depart from the region.
In response to a
question that cited the issue of anti-Islam films
or caricatures as expressions of "freedom of
speech", Ahmadinejad found it ironic that some
Western governments that champion the cause of
free speech have quashed it over the "right to do
historical research", a veiled reference to
European laws banning open discussions of the
Holocaust.
"We need to have a uniform set
of laws, one standard that would be long-lasting
... Freedom of speech is not a license to attack
other religions and their prophets." For sure, in
his coming Wednesday speech at the UN, Ahmadinejad
will raise this issue again, thus preserving his
image as a Muslim leader.
Finally,
Ahmadinejad repeatedly raised human concerns such
as poverty and need for peace and ending
conflicts, in light of his new role as the
chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, which
represents some 120 nations. Wearing two hats at
the UN, ie, Iran's and the NAM's, simply means
that Ahmadinejad is inclined more than ever before
to sound like a humanist and genuine globalist
leader keen on dialogue among cultures and not an
apostle of "clashing civilizations" - that robe is
more befitting those who nowadays incite religious
feelings throughout the Muslim world through vile
images of the Prophet.
US President Barack
Obama's Tuesday speech at the UN has been
predicted to contain "sharp words" on Iran, hardly
surprising in light of the US elections that have
raised Iran into a key foreign policy issue. But
the big question is whether or not Obama is
actually willing to set a new benchmark on Iran
that would be difficult to ignore if he is
re-elected. While this remained to be seen, one
thing was for sure: no one expects Obama to
reciprocate Ahmadinejad's conciliatory gestures.
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