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US Seeks Iran’s help in Iraq

 

The United States (US) is seeking Iran’s help to prevail on Shia elements in Iraq to form a national Government that will bring peace to the hapless nations and extract the US out of a quagmire born out of unilateralism. The US accuses Iran of fomenting violence—a charge that is vehemently denied. 

Therefore, for the first time since 1980 when the two countries snapped diplomatic ties, the two nations with bitter hatred will meet to discuss Iraq. Analysts say that the negotiations will definitely expand to include other areas such as Iran’s nuclear program, terrorism, and Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Contrary to popular perception in the West, Iran is not radical, as it seems. The 1979 Islamic revolution did occupy the US Embassy taking the US diplomatic personnel hostage but it has to be seen in the context of developments preceding the revolution. The US supported Iranian King Phallavi who used his SAVAK as means of to oppress his population. US President Jimmy Carter’s visit to Iran and his statements supporting Phallavi only angered the population that saw American support for the despot regime while itself claiming to be pro-freedom as hypocrisy.

Contrary to popular perception in the West, Iran is not radical, as it seems. The 1979 Islamic revolution did occupy the US Embassy taking the US diplomatic personnel hostage but it has to be seen in the context of developments preceding the revolution. The US supported Iranian King Phallavi who used his SAVAK as means of to oppress his population. US President Jimmy Carter’s visit to Iran and his statements supporting Phallavi only angered the population that saw American support for the despot regime while itself claiming to be pro-freedom as hypocrisy. 

Compared to Iran, Saudi Arabia claims to be an American ally but many oil-rich Saudi sheikhs, members of the royal family, actively fund terrorist groups masked as religious endowments in Pakistan, Sudan, Libya, and Syria. In the guise of propagating the stringent and medieval Whhabbi Sunni model including a narrow interpretation of Islam has spread terror not only to the West, India, and Israel but also to Iran. Therefore, through this prism, Iran is actually a victim of terrorism as much as the US and India.

Iran holds the key to the resolution of conflict in Iraq. It is in the interest of the US to start dialogue with Iran to obtain their help and at the same time understand Iranian worries about nuclear fuel supply.