DUBAI, 24 January 2007 — US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns yesterday ruled out direct negotiations with Iran and said a rapprochement between Washington and Tehran was “not possible” until Iran halts its uranium-enrichment program.
Burns made his comments while addressing academics and reporters at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.
The visit of the third highest-ranking official in the State Department comes amid a flurry of US diplomatic activities led by Secretary Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to explain the rationale behind Washington’s policies in the Middle East.
“The Middle East isn’t a region to be dominated by Iran,” he said. “The Gulf isn’t a body of water to be controlled by Iran. That’s why we’ve seen the United States station two carrier battle groups in the region.” The US is clearly seeking a diplomatic solution, he said, “but Iran is miscalculating the scenario. The US has always had the stability of this strategic region in mind and Iran has been trying to alter it by attempting to dominate. The US will not let that happen. We don’t want Iran to dominate the region. When challenged, we respond — economically, financially, politically, and not necessarily just through military means.”
US policy toward Iran and Iraq is conditioned by the concerns of the countries in the Gulf and the Middle East, and not by US interests alone, he added.
“We want peace, stability and security in the region,” he said. “For this we have to work together. Pakistan, India, France, Germany, China, Australia, South Korea and Russia are our friends.”
Burns singled out Syria, Belarus, Venezuela and traditional US Cold War foe Cuba as being aligned against the US with Iran.
“The Arab voice is very important in this issue,” he said, referring to Iran’s uranium-enrichment program. Saudi Arabia has openly declared its opposition to another nuclear power in the region, but supports any country’s right to a nuclear energy program.
The problem lies in the fact that the same process used to refine uranium for nuclear power can easily be used to refine the “super-rich” uranium needed for nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency is supposed to play a regulatory role, but just this week Iran barred 38 IAEA inspectors from entering the country.
Adding to the diplomatic nonproliferation problems is the fact that the US — one of the most vocal critics of Iran’s nuclear policy — has one of the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons and has made only nominal progress in the past decade in reducing the number of arms it possesses. Nevertheless the UN Security Council, including Russia, China and France, has voted in support of sanctions on Iran.
“President Bush has been concentrating on Middle East issues for the last two years,” Burns added. “The challenges of walking away are more grim than the challenges of staying in Iraq, and we choose to stay. We have a responsibility and we’ll stay to overcome the obstacles,” he said urging Iran and Syria to be “agents of unity and not division.”
But the audience asked him to sort out Iraq and the Israel-Palestinian conflict before turning attention to Iran. “We are not interested in another war in the region,” Mohammed Al Naqbi of Gulf Negotiations Center, told Burns. “Iraq is your problem, not the problem of the Arabs. You destroyed a country that had institutions. You handed that country to Iran. Now you are crying to Europe and the Arabs to help you out of this mess.”
But the diplomat said that Iran needs to halt its uranium enrichment as a precondition for any direct talks with Washington.
On the issue of an Iran office in the US Consulate in Dubai, Burns said it encourages “people-to-people” contact among Iranians and Americans by facilitating student exchange programs, arranging training for nurses and doctors, as well as issuing of visas for Iranians wanting to visit the US. “With our consulate being physically and geographically close to Iran, the Iran office helps issue visas, provide links and understand Iran,” he added
Burns was in the UAE for a two-day visit to discuss bilateral issues and cooperation with top UAE officials. On Monday, he met Gen. Sheikh Mohammed ibn Zayed Al-Nahayan, Abu Dhabi crown prince and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces, and Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah ibn Zayed.
