Iran’s new cheat-and-retreat policy

Here’s an article that says Iran’s sudden willingness to discuss Iraq is another cover for their nuclear ambitions.

London, Mar. 17 – It’s been feted by some in the West as a major turnaround in Iran’s policy, but sources close to the Iranian government say Tehran’s unexpected announcement on Thursday that it intended to hold direct talks with the United States on the subject of Iraq is primarily aimed at giving a push to the country’s nuclear diplomacy.

“This is a quintessential example of the old Chinese proverb, ‘one bed, two dreams’, with the Americans dreaming of a pacified Iraq and the Iranians dreaming of making their nukes without being sanctioned or bombed on the way”, said Simon Bailey, an Iran analyst at the London-based Gulf Intelligence Monitor.

“Expectations that this is the first opening that would lead to the ‘grand bargain’ are misplaced”, he said.

Bailey believes that the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad found itself in a diplomatic quagmire over the nuclear issue after the U.S. successfully coaxed the dossier to the United Nations Security Council. Now, he says, the ruling clerics are in “crisis mode” and want to try a number of tactics to get out of the imbroglio and avoid military attacks or sanctions.

“Hence the belated response to U.S. offers of talks on Iraq”, he said.

[…] “The Iranians are not looking for any long-term result out of these talks”, said Akbar Khoshnevis, a Persian Gulf analyst based in Dubai. “For them, it’s the immediate effect of the announcement of talks between the U.S. and Iran that matters. This, in their view, will have a marked effect on the political line-up in the Security Council, pushing the Russians and the Chinese more to their side and making the Europeans more cautious in their support for a tough U.S. line on Iran. They’ll all be thinking, if the Americans are going to have talks with these guys, why should we stick our necks out? Where would our interests lie?”

Remember, this is the nation that promised to set Israel on fire.

I don’t think this tack is going to work with the Bush Administration. It’s 2006. His time is running out, and he wants to be able to leave office with a win. Stopping Iran from getting nukes would be a very big win.