Iran dismissed US government reports that senior US and Iranian envoys had a cordial — and promising — face-to-face exchange at an international conference, saying on Wednesday that no “talks” took place.
The competing accounts of Tuesday’s encounter in the Netherlands appeared to reflect the different approaches to overtures to end the US’ and Iran’s nearly 30-year diplomatic standoff.
Washington has seemed eager to build on US President Barack Obama’s surprise video message last month to seek engagement with Iran’s ruling clerics. Iran has — in public, at least — been far cooler to making immediate contacts, but has not fully rejected some openings in the future.
Iran’s take on The Hague conference was just as nuanced — not flatly denying that senior US diplomat Richard Holbrooke and Iranian diplomat Mehdi Akhundzadeh met at a conference to discuss Afghanistan, but concentrating on the semantics of whether official talks took place.
“Maybe this — the report on the meeting by the US — indicates that the other party is hasty to take advantage of the conference,” Akhundzadeh was quoted by the Islamic Republic news agency (IRNA).
The statement noted that any exchange that occurred at the conference on Afghanistan was not comparable with official talks, such as the ambassador-level meetings between the US and Iran to discuss Iraq.
“Rest assured,” IRNA quoted Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Akhundzadeh as saying “that if there is a decision to have talks with US, like the talks on Iraq, all will be informed about it. There is nothing to hide.”
In Washington, the Us State Department insisted on Wednesday that Holbrooke met with the Iranian envoy. Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said there was a “brief handshake” on the edge of the conference — but added it was not a lengthy encounter.
“To describe it as substantive or even lengthy would be inaccurate, that is true. It was an engagement for Mr. Holbrooke,” Duguid told reporters.
Tehran-based political analyst Saeed Leilaz interpreted the Iranian response as trying to deflect any domestic suspicions of secret contacts.
The issue of outreach to Washington is particularly sensitive before the June 12 presidential elections. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is seeking another four-year term, is careful not to anger his hardline base with the suggestion of a quick outreach to the Obama administration.
“Iran is carefully approaching the issue since confirmation of the meeting will have consequences inside Iran and the Islamic World. For more than one generation, Iran has portrayed the US as the main enemy,” he said. “Anti-American slogans by Iran will last for years even if the two countries resume ties.”
Significantly, Tuesday’s reported meeting took place in an international conference on Afghanistan — an issue many analysts believe was the most promising place to start in any thawing of US-Iranian relations. Iran was a longtime foe of the Taliban and the two nations cooperated in 2001 in the initial US invasion.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton described the encounter as encouraging but not “substantive.”
“They agreed to stay in touch,” Clinton said at the close of the conference on Afghan security and development on Tuesday.
Last month, Obama offered to begin “honest” talks with Iran’s leaders in a clear break of past US policy to shun the ruling clerics and encourage pro-Western dissidents in Iran. In response, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected the overtures for a quick thaw in relations, but did not fully close the door on some future contacts, saying “should you change, our behavior will change, too.”
The US and Iran have been estranged for nearly 30 years, since young Iranians stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took more than 50 Americans hostage for 444 days.
But envoys from both nations have met occasionally before for both formal talks — as with Iraq — and informal exchanges.
In 2007, then former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki exchanged only brief pleasantries at a conference in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheik.
Hopes for deeper contacts where dashed when Mottaki decided to skip a delegates’ dinner, apparently objecting to the low-cut dress of a violinist and a bar within view of the VIP table.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
RSS