Rouhani: US apology to Iranian people is condition for restoring relations
REUTERS/11/12/2015
ROME – The nuclear deal reached between world powers and Iran could lead to better relations between Tehran and Washington if the United States apologised for past behaviour, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quoted as saying on Thursday. The pragmatist president, who championed the July 14 deal, has pushed for closer engagement with the West since his 2013 landslide election win.But Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has continued to rule out normalizing ties with the “Great Satan,” as he routinely calls the United States. In an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper, Rouhani suggested that the United States and Iran could open embassies in each other’s capitals after decades of mutual hostility, but said Washington should apologize, without going into further detail.”One day these embassies will re-open but what counts is behaviour and the Americans hold the key to this,” Rouhani told the newspaper ahead of a trip to Italy this weekend, his first to a European capital. “If they modify their policies, correct errors committed in these 37 years and apologize to the Iranian people, the situation will change and good things can happen.” Iran and Washington severed ties shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution when radical students seized the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for over a year. Relations came under further pressure in the last decade over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Under the nuclear deal reached in July, Iran will curb its nuclear program in exchange for an easing of sanctions on its economy. Tehran denied Western suspicions it wanted to develop an atomic bomb.
Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, gave his conditional approval to the deal with six world powers including the United States, but has warned against allowing any US political or economic influence on Iran.
Rouhani said Washington would have to fulfil its part in the nuclear accord for relations to improve. The United States approved conditional sanctions waivers for Iran, though these will not take effect until Tehran has complied with the nuclear accord. “The way this agreement is applied can have an impact on the future,” Rouhani said in the interview. “If it is well applied it can lay the foundation for fewer tensions with the United States, creating the conditions to open a new era. But if the Americans don’t respect their part of the nuclear accord, then surely our relationship will remain as it has been in the past,” he said. Rouhani is due to see the Italian prime minister and business leaders during his Nov. 14-15 visit to Rome and will also hold talks with Pope Francis. He will then fly to Paris for talks on Nov. 16-17.
Sinai plane crash: Why is Putin so silent?
Efraim Halevy/Ynetnews/Published: 11.12.15
Since the Russian passenger plane crashed in Sinai more than 10 days ago, Vladimir Putin has appeared only once on Russian media. In a short eulogy on television, he offered his condolences for the death of the 224 passengers, and has not been seen on the media since. Such a silence is uncharacteristic of the Russian president’s style. Putin recently gave an interview in the city of Sochi, where he participated in an international conference which was also attended by officials from the academic world. One of the American academics asked how he had decided to launch the battle to regain control of the Crimea Peninsula, and Putin responded that it was a spontaneous decision – he didn’t consult his people about it and issued orders for the operation stage by stage. He was surprised by its tremendous success himself, he said.
Analysis: Russian president seeks to enhance his country’s influence in the region through his alliance with Assad: A dangerous gamble, but Israel need not worry for the moment.
The Russian leader has been caught in a situation he does not want to be in. First of all, he was surprised: He wasn’t expecting such a blow. Putin prefers to surprise. He has been quoted as saying that he learned from his experience On the streets of St. Petersburg that a person who is destined to fight should show up first on the battlefield and take initiative. He believes this strategy has proved itself in recent years in the Middle East as well. In Syria, Russia seems to have succeeded in leading so far, while the United States is perceived as responding with hesitant moves.
In Putin’s eyes, the march of leaders to Moscow, from his clear allies in Iran to his rivals on Syrian soil – Saudi Arabia’s representatives – demonstrated the change in Russia’s standing in the region. He was even crowned the strongest leader in the world in an international survey conducted recently, while US President Barack Obama was pushed back.
While Putin remained silent, Obama and other Western officials declared that there was a high probability that the plane crash was a terror attack carried out by the Islamic State. Western media sources reported of evidence confirming this assumption, allegedly using classified intelligence information. These reports pushed the Russians into a corner, and Putin had no other choice but to order the suspension of Russian civil flights to Sinai.
Putin is apparently still internalizing the meaning of the disaster, for him and for his policy, and is taking a timeout for this purpose. There is nothing coincidental in Russia. On November 9, Sergei Chemezov, the chief executive of a Russian state-owned defense conglomerate, announced that the contract to supply Iran with S-300 surface-to-air missile systems had not only been signed but had already reached the execution stage. Israel waged a difficult battle against the deal for years, and it is definitely unhappy with this move.
Chemezov is a senior figure in Putin’s internal circle and has been a personal friend of the Russian president since the two served together in the KGB in East Germany. He is included on the list of officials subject to personal sanctions by the US for their involvement in the Ukraine issue. Chemezov spoke during a visit to an aerial exhibition in Dubai and his comments created a buzz in the Persian Gulf’s sensitive area. It was a “we are still here!” type of declaration.
The options Putin is facing are not easy
. If he responds powerfully, while escalating the Russian involvement in Syria, he will risk increasing the losses in the fighting and creating objection among the public opinion in his country. If he ignores the incident, he will risk losing his international and internal prestige, and the initial, aggressive effect of reinforcing the Russian presence in Syria could disappear.
The plane disaster exposed vulnerability in an area Russia never imagined. Solving this operational problem is not simple, and Putin is likely losing sleep over the threat to uncover new weak spots.
Efraim Halevy is a former Mossad chief.