Described in some circles as a "diplomatic coup", Iran's success in reaching a nuclear-fuel-exchange deal with Turkey and Brazil, two up-and-coming international players, has seemingly rankled the major powers and threatens to divide opinion in the western world.
Most importantly, the reaction of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany appears to have undermined President Barack Obama's historic declaration to the Muslim world in Cairo nearly a year ago, in which he pledged a radical change in US foreign policy. On that day he promised an appreciative audience that "while America in the past has focused on oil and gas when it comes to this part of the world, we now seek a broader engagement".
The Iranian offer to exchange some of its low-enriched uranium for fuel to run a medical research reactor was accepted earlier this month by Turkey and Brazil, whose two heads of state were in Tehran for the historic announcement. Even if the Iranian offer does not meet all the conditions of the UN-drafted deal it turned down in October, the result should not be a new round of sanctions, a step that would only contribute to an escalation of tensions in the region. Rather, this is a golden opportunity to engage President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime.
It is generally conceded that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has many loopholes. By all accounts, the treaty has failed to prevent Israel, India and Pakistan — as well as possibly North Korea and Iran — from acquiring nuclear weapons. In actual fact, several of the major powers have over time supplied — sometimes secretly — these countries with nuclear know-how, in contravention of the NPT.
Israel, whose policy of nuclear "ambiguity" is accepted and remains unchallenged by the major powers, has for years claimed it has the right to neither admit nor deny that it has nuclear weapons. But this week The Guardian of London claimed that secret documents show that Israel offered in 1975 to sell nuclear warheads to the then apartheid regime in South Africa, providing the first alleged documentary evidence of the Zionist state's possession of nuclear weapons. The documents were allegedly cited by an American academic, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, in his research for a book on the policy of "ambiguity".
The London newspaper said the documents undermine Israel's attempts to suggest that, if it has nuclear weapons, it is a "responsible" power that would not misuse them, whereas countries such as Iran cannot be trusted. (Israeli President Shimon Peres, then defence minister, has denied that any such discussions with apartheid South Africa took place).
Lobby group
Akiva Eldar of Haaretz explains that Israel gets away with all of this because "US Jewry has become one of the Zionist movement's most strategic assets". He continues: "This influential community's ... influence on the centres of power in the United States is one of the cornerstones of Israel's deterrence [and] the damage caused by the Netanyahu government to this core support of American Jews is no better than the threat of a nuclear Iran".
The potential for Brazil and Turkey, the latter of which aspires to become a full-fledged member of the European Union, to bring Iran around should not be dismissed or belittled. Of late, and especially under the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has acquired a leadership role in reaching out to Arab and Muslim countries, much to the delight of both Arab governments and, very likely, western nations. In addition, Turkey has important trade relations with all her neighbours, especially Iran. Turkish exports to Iran are estimated at $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion), and both countries expect to triple their trade volume in the near future.
In the view of Brazil's popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Iran's agreement to a nuclear-exchange-deal he helped to craft proves his nation has finally become a global power broker. Analysts in Brazil have been reported as saying that the positions adopted by both Turkey and Brazil may have made it easier for Iran to accept a compromise that might have looked like a capitulation if it had been brokered by a less friendly country. "I think that diplomacy came out victorious today," the Brazilian president said when discussing the deal on his weekly radio programme. "I think it was a result that shows we can build peace through dialogue."
Since these so-called "Third World" leaders have been able to reach an understanding with Iran, the Obama administration may have to find a way to engage with Tehran once more. After all, this deal is similar to the one proposed by the US, France and Russia and drafted by the UN. Moreover, it makes sense to assume that the Brazilian and Turkish leaders would not have pursued this avenue without getting the nod from America.
George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted by emailing ghishmeh@gulfnews.com
