Recent remarks by Henry Kissinger, an American diplomat, political scientist and a former National Security Advisor, on Iran and its nuclear program reveal what the unyielding US hardliners are doing to interfere with nuclear talks.
The following is the full translation of an opinion piece on why US strategists should act more wisely in dealing with Iran. The piece by Fereydoon Majlesi, an international affairs analyst, appeared in Sharq daily on February 18:
After one and a half years of intensive talks over Iran’s nuclear program, the deadline for determining the scope of Iran’s nuclear activities and the removal of sanctions is approaching and hopes are growing for the settlement of the [long-standing] standoff and the lifting of sanctions, but hardliners and war hawks – at home and abroad – have joined the [anti-Iran] chorus, with the Israeli regime and its regional allies stepping up their destructive activities and adding fuel to the fire.
One such individual is Henry Kissinger, a former US national security advisor, who has said that if Iran’s demand for having an infrastructure of thousands of centrifuges is accepted, it would be almost impossible to deny other countries such a right, adding such an arrangement would very likely prompt other countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, “to match Iran’s threshold capability”.
I do not expect a seasoned, veteran politician like Kissinger to employ such indiscreet reasoning. It seems as if Saudi Arabia or any other countries were deprived of the enrichment right, or that Western countries are seeking to monopolize the enrichment right for the club of friendly nations.
I am not an expert in nuclear technology, but the logic Kissinger is using in support of Netanyahu and his Republican friends in the US Congress reminds me of a wolf which is drinking water upstream and blaming the lamb downstream for literally muddying the water. The problem here is that a sober guy is sitting among a crowd of drunkards.
… handed them an excuse, and with the help of “friends” like China and Russia, a gift of sanctions came Iran’s way from the UN Security Council.
Perhaps Kissinger knows that Saudi Arabia, which has created and harbored Alqaeda, the Taliban and ISIS, is one of them [Westerners]; thus, they are not concerned about its atomic bombs because the bomb of ignorance is much more dangerous. Moreover, the Pakistani government, which is the agent of Saudi Arabia to fulfill Riyadh’s desires, possesses atomic bombs.
For years, Saudi Arabia has been dreaming about its own empire and Islamic caliphate and has based its policies on overcoming two major obstacles: the Dari language and Shiism. Haven’t the Western sides seen a big number of roadside, mosque and hotel bombings? [Uranium] Enrichment is not an issue [for Saudi Arabia]; Riyadh has Pakistan’s atomic bombs at its disposal. So what are they concerned about?
Let’s assume that a person has made a comment eight years ago, describing a global decision as a “worthless piece of paper” [a reference to remarks by former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who mocked UN Security Council sanctions against Iran as pieces of paper of no value]. What do the West and Arabs think of a nation which seeks to exercise its conventional rights and freedom to do business and lead its own life?
What has Iran done wrong? Has it occupied other nations’ territories? Has it imprisoned people in their houses and destroyed their properties under the pretext of meeting its own demands? Has it murdered six million Jews? Has it massacred people in Hamburg at the end of war to take revenge? Has it dropped an A-bomb on a city? Has it killed 20-30 million people in Siberia, Poland, Afghanistan, East Europe and Central Asia in quest of its domineering goals? Has it shed the blood of people in Algeria, the black continent, Indochina, India? Has it plundered their wealth?
What has happened that people like Kissinger are scrambling to make the whole world rally behind them and threaten this nation which accounts for simply one percent of the global populace and territory? Has Iran killed Western scientists in their homes or on the street?
Has Iran used any malware to disrupt their computer systems, industries and economies? Why is it that when you face a similar threat you cry foul that the law has been flouted? Why is it that the West does not submit to a fair, reasonable and explicit solution? Why do they try to make a nation – which is hopeful and moderate – desperate and full of hatred of them? Why do they stir resentment? Why are they searching for the evil?
The evil acts and wicked, destructive reactions are abundant. Rationality, moderation, peace, calm, coexistence, business and life are what we lack. Kissinger should know that moderate [Iranian] statesmen – who build on rationality, fairness and moderation as well as on a popular mandate – are holding talks with his respective government, and they expect nothing in return expect fair, legal and respectful treatment.
These people have opened their facilities to inspectors in line with international rules and regulations. You need to remember that missiles you provided [to Saddam’s Iraq] rained down on them [the Iranians] in a prolonged war, and that they had every right to arm themselves in self-defense.
A balanced and wise behavior will result in a balanced and wise response. Kissinger had better advise US senators to treat the negotiating team in a way that does not defy rationality and fairness and not do anything which could play into the hands of radical opponents.
You need to remind them of the proverbial phrase which says, “The one who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind”.
