On Oct 2, 2007, at 9:44 AM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> The Iranians paid dearly for their independence, and they will not
> give it up and submit themselves to the domination of the US-led
> multinational empire easily.
Iran is nothing if not flexible.
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Financial Times - October 1, 2007
Iran 'ready to help' US with Iraq stability By Roula Khalaf and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Iran is ready to help the US stabilise Iraq if Washington were to present a timetable for withdrawing its troops from the country, Tehran's top security official said yesterday.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ali Larijani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, which answers to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, rejected US claims that Tehran was providing weapons to Iraqi militias. He insisted instead that the trouble with Iraq was that the Bush administration was pursuing a "dead-end strategy".
In contrast, he suggested that both the US Democrats and Britain were getting it right in Iraq. The Democrats' push for a timetable for withdrawal "seems to be logical", he said, and the British were "more intelligent than the Americans", having made the "necessary adjustments" and retreated to Basra airport.
"If they [the Americans] had a clear definition of a timetable we'll help them to materialise it," Mr Larijani said. "If the US is persisting with its mistakes, it shouldn't ask for help from us."
The US has repeatedly accused Iran of undermining security in Iraq by supplying advanced roadside bombs and Iranian-made rockets to Shia militias. The US Senate last week called for the Revolutionary Guards, the elite force allegedly involved in Iraq, to be officially designated as a "foreign terrorist organisation".
Political analysts say Iran's strategy is to back the Shiadominated government in Baghdad but also to ensure that the US does not leave Iraq emboldened to undertake another military campaign.
Three rounds of talks between US and Iranian officials have been held in Baghdad but do not appear to have produced tangible results.
Mr Larijani, however, dismissed US accusations as "lies" and said Iran had asked for the names of Revolutionary Guard personnel that the US says are involved in helping Iraqi groups. He said Tehran had received no response.
At a time of growing suspicion that the US or Israel might resort to military strikes to prevent Iran from pursuing its controversial nuclear programme, Mr Larijani said Washington's failures in Iraq should be a warning against embarking on a new "adventure".
Refusing to specify what Iran's retaliation might be, he warned that the US should attack Iran if it wished "to receive Israel on a wheelchair" and predicted that the US would be "sticking its hand into a beehive".
Iran, he said, would pursue its co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, and was ready to open discussion with world powers on its nuclear programme. But he made clear that Tehran had no intention of suspending uranium enrichment - a crucial demand by the UN Security Council and the condition set by the US and its allies for starting nuclear talks.