Iran Only Considering Attending Regional Peace Conference

Iran appears to be only putting it under consideration whether to attend a regional peace conference to help resolve the conflict in Iraq. This is highly disappointing since it would open a possible dialogue with the U.S. and Iran. It is hoped that Iran will more seriously decide to take part in the regional peace conference, which will also include China, Russia and other major parties as well as MidEast neighbors of Iraq.

This bold peace conference proposal is an important first step in the right direction towards creating a dialogue for a political settlement in Iraq, and the end to states such as Iran and Saudi Arabia fighting a proxy war on behalf of their respective Sunni and Shiite interests.

Iran and the U.S. need to brought into some sort of face to face discussions and a dialogue to reduce tensions. However, Iran may feel that they have nothing to gain through a dialogue, and are hoping that they can outlast the U.S. presense in Iraq and then support the overthrow of the Iraqi government with an Islamic revolutionary ally such as radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Iran also may feel that they can outlast and divide the world communiy over their nuclear program, as now Russia is turning more critical of any stronger actions to control this looming political crisis.

Many wrongly thought that the U.S. would be the biggest holdout in any face to face talks with Iran. But the U.S. holds none of the current advantages of Iran. Iran is too close to picking up the pieces of the failed U.S. efforts in Iraq that so badly destabilized the nation, and also to making major advances on their nuclear program. North Korea proved that once a nation has nuclear arms, then they can wield great power in many ways. Iran wants to wield this power. It was always to be expected that Iran would be the most difficult to bring to the negotiation table by pragmatic thinkers.

When you hold many political advantages like Iran, there is no need to negotiate away these advantages. This stands as the biggest current roadblock of a really useful peace dialogue with Iran. But there is alwasys hope that a real dialogue between the U.S. and Iran can exist before the situation continues to worsen to a possible major political or military situation down the road.