In authoring the oldest military treatise, titled The Art of War, centuries ago, Chinese strategist Sun Tzu offered an insight into victory and defeat saying: “To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his US counterpart Barack Obama have geared themselves into Sun Tzu’s state of mind as the two leaders are poised to explore options for finding a diplomatic solution that will free Iran from international sanctions, imposed due to their controversial nuclear programme. In political parlance, ‘letters have been exchanged’. The two leaders are scheduled to speak on the same day at the United Nations General Assembly next week. Rouhani’s tactic of ‘constructed interaction’ has merit. Obama should develop these skills when he negotiates with the Syrian authorities over the purported handing over of their chemical weapons arsenals for inspection and destruction. Iran must be transparent about its nuclear programme. It has already announced that it has converted more than 40 per cent of its stockpile of enriched uranium to fuel rods for use in a civilian reactor and is in the process of converting the rest. This is a positive step towards result-oriented dialogue. If evidence is found that the Iranians are developing uranium for military purposes, then measures can be taken, but not before all ambiguity has been removed. This is a step in the right direction and one designated to foster peace and stability in the region.
