‘US should learn from its mistakes in Iraq and stop threatening Iran’

By Dana Spinant

Date: 03/02/05

The United States should learn from its mistakes in Iraq and stop threatening to strike Iran, says the Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Masoumeh Ebtekar, who doubts whether the threats are serious.

The highest-ranking woman to serve in the government in Tehran said that "reasonable and logical human beings tend to learn from their experiences and mistakes".

"Americans should learn from their experience in Iraq," she said, in an interview with European Voice at Davos. "They are paying the price in the long term, as imposing peace and freedom under bombings does not work out. Freedom and culture can be promoted only by culture, not by wars."

Recent comments from the White House, hinting at the possibility of military strikes against Iran, suspected of intentions to build nuclear weapons, coupled with declarations putting Iran at the top of the list of "troublemakers", have fuelled speculation that an attack against Iran is imminent. But former US president Bill Clinton said that it would be more difficult for the US to "promote democracy by force" because of what had happened in Iraq. "[The US administration] is less likely to launch another preventive action. But strikes against Iran, without a ground offensive, are not to be excluded."

The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused the US officials claiming that Iran seeks to make weapons of mass destruction of being "insincere". Talking to European Voice in Davos, he said: "When I visited Iran, I spoke both to the president and the prime minister of the country. They both stated that they want to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Frankly speaking, I believe them. You can't simply tell them 'You are lying'."

Erdogan added: "Pakistan and Israel have nuclear weapons, and Russia too, however, nothing is said about them. The focus is only on Iran. I don't think such an approach is sincere and I expressed our concerns to our counterparts."

He said that Turkey too would be looking to develop a capacity to produce nuclear energy. "Nuclear energy is cheap. We want to produce such energy too, and we are not hiding it," he said.

Ebtekar said that she did not think that the American threat was serious. For her, it was a strategy to influence negotiations between European and Iranian diplomats on Tehran's nuclear programme.

"It is maybe a psychological war, or a deterrent serving the purpose of the current negotiations," she said.

Ebtekar is also the head of the Iranian department of environment and she insisted that her country's nuclear plans had a peaceful purpose. "We need to diversify our sources of energy. We had a boom in industry in the last three to four years. Energy consumption increased threefold over the last six years."

Asked why an oil-rich country like Iran needed nuclear energy, Ebtekar said: "The Iranian oil reserves are limited to 40-50 more years. Plus, relying only on fossil fuel is no solution. We need to diversify, also because in some parts of the country it would be difficult to transport petroleum or gas. It would be more logical to have nuclear energy. We are also looking at cleaner energy sources. It is a logical choice."

She said that negotiations with diplomats from France, Germany and the UK had led to "a framework agreement for working together in trade, security and political issues".

The government in Tehran was, she said, taking the talks with the EU member states very seriously. "The important point is confidence-building. That is what is happening at the moment. It is clear that the world expects us to provide the necessary proofs of confidence."

But the vice-president insisted that Iran could not accept a deal under which it would not produce the parts necessary to build the nuclear reactor itself and would receive them from other countries. "That would make us dependent on foreign countries. We've learned that this is not good, in order to ensure the security of our energy supply."

She observed that the neo-conservative politicians in Washington had "a very strong rhetoric and an aggressive position towards Iran".

But she warned that they would be mistaken to compare Iran with Iraq and adopt a similar strategy: "They should understand that Iran is a strong country, economically and where security is concerned, plus there is a very clear desire on the part of the Iranian people to stay independent. The Americans should also understand the European position and see why Europeans are working so closely with Iran."

She added that Iranians had no fear of an American attack, despite belligerent declarations in Washington. "People in Iran feel there is no reason for an American attack. There is no pretext and it is not in the interest of the Americans, of the region, or of the world order. Iran is a strong democracy and any pressure from abroad would not help. They would not be helping democracy and freedom by aggressing Iran."

Bill Clinton said in Davos that "there needs to be a negotiated deal on Iran. We need to give a vigorous push to diplomacy first" before considering other options.

Clinton said that the US was particularly nervous about the prospect of Iran possessing weapons of mass destruction for two reasons: "First, it would affect the balance of power in the Middle East. Second, it would increase the risk of nuclear weapons being smuggled to terrorists. They won't use it, as they would be toasted if they did. But it would increase the risk of such weapons falling into terrorists' hands."

Interview with the Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Masoumeh Ebtekar, who says that the United States should learn from its mistakes in Iraq and stop threatening to strike Iran.