Nowrooz

Eid-eh shoma mobarak!!! A new Persian year has officially started and with it a friendly message from President Obama to Iran. Unfortunately, Iran did not take it as a serious message for change and justifiably so because the official U.S. position on Iran has not undergone any noticeable changes. President Obama's message stated that the U.S. wanted Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations through peaceful efforts. This is a nice message and it is one that I feel Iran has tried to follow in recent years especially in their cooperation with the IAEA inspections and personnel. Iran suspended nuclear enrichment activities for over two years to boost confidence and to show their commitment to finding a mutually beneficial solution to the issue. Iran has fully complied with the IAEA and the IAEA has repeatedly declared that there is no evidence of diversion for a nuclear weapon. Even the 2006 National Intelligence Estimate stated Iran was not building nuclear weapons. So why are we still hearing news reports (that change daily) on the amount of low grade nuclear material that, after a few years, could become high grade material suitable for building a nuclear weapon? I guess I can assume that the media is just trying to sell news stories by creating more fear over Iran. Thankfully, there are smart people out there who are realizing the true power Iran is wielding in the Middle East is not nuclear, it's soft power. Part of the real Iranian threat comes from the giant power vacuum we created when we allowed Bush to topple Saddam's regime in Iraq. No other strategic blunder has allowed Iran to gain so much for so little.

As soon as Saddam's regime was gone. The Revolutionary Guard Corps quickly and easily entered into Iraq and began to work their magic just as they had done in Palestine and Lebanon. In fact, if Iran had never been so successful with Hezbollah in Lebanon we probably wouldn't have so much to worry about but since a guerrilla force defeated the most powerful military in the Middle East, Israel, Iran has taken that blueprint and applied it to Iraq. Gone from the political spotlight in Iraq are the moderate Shia clerics like Grand Ayatollah Sistani, replaced instead with people like Muqtada-al-Sadr who was not originally in league with Iran but after much fighting and violence against the U.S. in Iraq turned to Iran for safety and support. While the U.S. is in a quagmire and burning billions of dollars per month, Iran is reaping the benefits of the invasion through access to Iraqi oil, and a whole new slew of political parties and factions to be manipulated by the regime in Tehran. Through its influence on Shi'ite Muslims and its proxies in Lebanon and Iraq, its oil resources, and its control of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is the most powerful state in the Middle East and it is only a matter of time before the U.S. must swallow its pride and begin to really negotiate with them.

Why not negotiate with Iran? Iran has much more to offer the U.S. as a strategic partner than Israel and not only that but they also comply with international laws (unlike Israel). I'm not saying don't partner with Israel, I'm saying partner with Iran too so we can actually benefit from the situation through energy security and regional stabilization. What has our alliance with Arab states and Israel gotten us? 9/11, that's what. The Arab states are Sunni and it was Sunni fundamentals that attacked the U.S. and are still attacking us in Afghanistan. The takfiris cannot be negotiated with, the Shi'ites can. Negotiation is the only rational choice the U.S. has. The only other option is an all out war that could last up to 100 years with unprecedented casualties and a cost that will drive the U.S. into the ground.