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Iran, US: Blow Hot, Blow Cold!

The world has changed a great deal since the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979. However, little has changed in the US-Iran relations, once staunch allies and friends. They continue to let their troubled past dictate their present and the future at a great cost to the two countries, their people and the Middle East at large.

The US-Iran relations have gone from bad to worse under the Bush administration, totally controlled as it has been by the hardliners. The constant neocon rhetoric of attacking Iran and taking out its nuclear programme has only added to the tensions between Washington and Teheran.

On the other hand, the rise of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran and his hawkish posturing on Israel and the US hasn’t helped the cause of peace and healthier relations between the two countries either. The relations have been held hostage by the hardliners on both sides.

The fact that Washington and Teheran snapped all ties after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and do not currently have any diplomatic relations whatsoever has only widened the gulf of mistrust and animosity between the former allies. Now US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the Bush administration is still committed to the idea of opening a diplomatic outpost in Teheran, an idea floated by the administration some months ago.

But what is the meaning and significance of such claims when we all know that this administration will be out of the White House in less than two months? Unless of course Ms Rice and his boss in the White House are hoping to make up for the lost time making dramatic progress in the last few weeks in office. Whatever the explanation, this administration and its successor that will take over soon would do well to reach out to Iran in the larger interests of the US and the Middle East peace. The initiative has to come from the US because Teheran for all its tough talk has been rather keen to bury the past and move on.