We Are the Major Power of the Region

Iran’s position in the region and its relation to visits of European and American senior statesmen to the strategic and crucial region of Middle East was the topic of our interview with Dr. Sadegh Kharrazi, Middle East expert and Iran’s former ambassador to France.

Our interview started with the simultaneous visit of Bush and Sarkozy and moved to parliamentary elections in Iran. However, there were issues such as US presidential election, third resolution’s draft, and Ahmadinejhad’s trip to Iraq that is going to occur at the last days of February, which we didn’t manage to cover.

Sadegh Kharrazi believes that Iran is a regional power but apparently its cooperation with the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq has not been advantageous for the country. When we asked him about the reason, he just told us to ask it from statesmen. Etemaad’s interview with Dr. Sadegh Kharrazi, Iranian senior diplomat, started with this question:

Recently, Bush and closely after, Sarkozy have had controversial visits to Middle East. The conspicuous point about these trips was attempts to sell further arms to the countries of the region, and we saw that huge contracts were signed between some countries and the United States and Sarkozy. Besides, the two presidents didn’t hesitate to explicitly state that the goal of their visit is to offset Iran’s influence in the region. What is your analysis of these frequent visits, after the initial uproars have quieted down?

Middle East is the political and strategic center of the world today. Energy economy in the region, beside geopolitical, historical, and civilizational factors is the reasons for centrality of the region.

As you know Middle East is the birthplace of all religions and civilizations of the world, so it has always been important. There’s nothing special about these visits, particularly when American troops are present here.

But Bush’s trip at the current circumstances is a sign of United States’ new moves in Middle East. Therefore this trip has multiple aspects; first, pursuing the peace process in Middle East; second, forming a bloc against a regional power called Iran, who has a high self-confidence in the region. This self-confidence is not something particular to the present government. At first, it goes back to a potential power called Iran and second, it’s the result of 30-year attempts made after the Islamic Revolution. The third aspect of Bush’s visit is pursuit of Middle East democratization process that is the cornerstone of Americans’ school of thought, announced since their presence in Iraq.