Late Monday, Barack Obama had a White House meeting on Iraq that included John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, Eric Holder, and national security advisor Susan Rice. Also attending were U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, CIA Director John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey.
Many issues and deals appear to be afoot as the matter of Iraq and ISIS has many components which curiously there seems to be a lot of silence from other Gulf States like UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
In the meantime and I wrote several days ago, the meeting in Geneva of the P5+1 over Iran’s nuclear program had a real side-bar agenda and that was in fact allied countries colluding with Iran to gain at least cooperation on the Shiite vs. Sunni war in Iraq.
While we cannot estimate how far these discussions advanced, we must begin to look deeper such that Iran is being completely legitimized and accepted by the West surely putting other countries on alert, least of which is Israel.
It defies logic that while the United States does not have an embassy in Tehran, Hillary Clinton attempted to create a virtual embassy (an online version) and that failed, however the United Kingdom has announced their plan to re-open their embassy in Tehran.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague): In February, I updated the House on progress in our bilateral relationship with Iran, following the appointment of non-resident Chargés d’Affaires in November 2013 (Official Report 24 February 2014 col 26). I said then that our decision to end formal protecting power arrangements was a sign of our increasing confidence in conducting bilateral business directly rather than through our Swedish and Omani intermediaries.
Over the past four months, we have continued to expand our bilateral engagement. British and Iranian officials have paid regular visits to each other’s capitals. This has enabled us to resolve a range of practical matters concerning our embassies. And it has allowed us to discuss a broad range of issues, including areas where we and Iran have sharply differing views.
Our two primary concerns when considering whether to reopen our embassy in Tehran have been assurance that our staff would be safe and secure, and confidence that they would be able to carry out their functions without hindrance. There has never been any doubt in my mind that we should have an Embassy in Tehran if the circumstances allowed. Iran is an important country in a volatile region, and maintaining embassies around the world, even under difficult conditions, is a central pillar of the UK’s global diplomatic approach. On Saturday I telephoned Foreign Minister Zarif to discuss the progress we have made to date and our common interest in continuing to move forward in the UK-Iran bilateral relationship.
The U.S. State Department still formally considers Iran a State sponsor of terror as do allies, so what is the explanation of this new friendship?
A priority of Obama Administration policy has been to reduce the perceived threat posed by Iran to a broad range of U.S. interests. Rouhani’s election has also improved prospects for an end to the 34 years of U.S.-Iran estrangement. On September 27, 2013, President Obama and Rouhani spoke by phone—the first leadership level contacts since the 1979 Islamic revolution— Rouhani has not, to date, satisfied the aspirations of those Iranians who see his presidency as an opportunity to achieve an easing of repression and social restrictions.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. What can we now expect in the coming years from Barack Obama? The Islamic Jihad is at least 14 years ago, question is how much longer are we going to accept this war and defeat as the United State IS the only country historically that was proactive to maintain the equilibrium of the world?
