{"id":18574,"date":"2013-10-08T16:30:37","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T22:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=18574"},"modified":"2013-10-08T16:36:49","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T22:36:49","slug":"five-enemies-of-diplomacy-hell-bent-on-sabotaging-peace-between-america-and-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=18574","title":{"rendered":"Five Enemies of Diplomacy Hell-Bent On Sabotaging Peace Between America and Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five Enemies of Diplomacy Hell-Bent On Sabotaging Peace Between America and Iran<\/strong>
\nBy Anna Ruiz – Alternet – 25 September, 2013 <\/p>\n

Will the new Iranian president’s diplomatic opening survive the onslaught from detractors like Israel, Saudi Arabia and members of the U.S. Congress?<\/p>\n

The new Iranian leader\u2019s diplomatic moves have brought hope to those searching for an end to hostility between Iran and the U.S. In the days leading up to the annual gathering of world leaders in New York, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani proclaimed to NBC News that Iran would not seek nuclear weapons under any circumstances and penned a Washington Post op-ed in which he declared, \u201cI\u2019m committed to fulfilling my promises to my people, including my pledge to engage in constructive interaction with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was all part of Rouhani\u2019s effort to pave the way for a potential new chapter in U.S.-Iranian relations. After decades of mistrust sowed by a U.S.-backed coup in 1953 and the taking of American hostages in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Rouhani seemed to be trying to forge a different course. The new Iranian president\u2019s United Nations speech continued the diplomatic opening, declaring that Iran was open to negotiations aimed at resolving \u201creasonable concerns\u201d about Iran\u2019s nuclear energy program. Rouhani\u2019s UN talk came hours after President Barack Obama signaled an American willingness to engage in talks with Iran, though it\u2019s far from a sure thing that meetings could bear fruit.<\/p>\n

The details of a potential deal are fairly well-known. It would involve Western recognition of Iran\u2019s right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes in return for an Iranian willingness to allow more inspections of its nuclear program, ending work on a water reactor that could produce a key element of a nuclear weapon and capping the levels of uranium enrichment. Iranian concessions would be met with sanctions relief.<\/p>\n

But will the diplomatic opening survive the onslaught of a wide array of detractors? That\u2019s the big question.<\/p>\n

On September 24, the day of Rouhani\u2019s and Obama\u2019s speeches, a large crowd of detractors virulently opposed to a thaw in U.S.-Iranian relations demonstrated outside the United Nations. Organized by the political branch of the Iranian expatriate group Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), thousands of Iranian-Americans gathered to denounce Rouhani and any chance of diplomacy. Also at the rally were non-Iranian Americans that were bused in from around the country, their tickets, food and lodging all paid for by MEK. \u201cSome of the people don\u2019t have a clue what it was all about,\u201d one man from Michigan at the rally told AlterNet.<\/p>\n

Waving trademark red, green and white MEK flags and chanting for the downfall of the Iranian regime, MEK supporters listened to former U.S. officials on the group\u2019s payroll fall over themselves for the most hyperbolic statements about Iran\u2019s new leader.<\/p>\n

Former Democratic senator Robert Toricelli thundered, \u201cthere is no compromising with evil….Do not meet with terrorists.\u201d Former chair of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele said, \u201cdo not shake hands with Rouhani,\u201d a reference to the possibility that Obama would do just that with Rouhani (the handshake or meeting never materialized). The hawkish former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, told the crowd it would be \u201crepugnant\u201d for Obama to meet with Rouhani and that now was the time for \u201cincreasing\u201d punishing sanctions on Iran which have wreaked havoc on their economy and led to medicine shortages. But it fell to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to take the cake for the most ridiculous statement of the day when he tried to link Rouhani to a 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina.<\/p>\n

\u201cRouhani\u2026was certainly aware of it, certainly involved. Their blood is on their hands, and just wishing people \u2018Happy Rosh Hashanah\u2019 doesn\u2019t wipe away the blood of these Jewish martyrs from Iran\u2019s hand or Rouhani,\u201d said Giuliani. But while the Iranian government has been linked to the attack, the Argentine prosecutor on the case told the Times of Israel in June that Rouhani \u201cdid not participate\u201d in the meeting that approved the bombing.<\/p>\n

MEK and its supporters are hardly the only political force that wants to stop U.S.-Iranian negotiations over the nuclear program. Here are five others.<\/p>\n

…source<\/a><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five Enemies of Diplomacy Hell-Bent On Sabotaging Peace Between America and Iran By Anna Ruiz – Alternet – 25 September, 2013 Will the new Iranian president’s diplomatic opening survive the onslaught from detractors like Israel, Saudi Arabia and members of the U.S. Congress? The new Iranian leader\u2019s diplomatic moves have brought hope to those searching more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[4135],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18574"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18577,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18574\/revisions\/18577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}