Iran: Impossible Talks With The "Great Satan"
18 February 2013
By Amir Taheri
Until a week ago, the global punditry was abuzz with
rumors about a ?grand bargain? between Washington and
Tehran. The buzz started last month with President
Barack Obama renewing his demand for talks with the
?leadership in Tehran.? Next, Vice President Joseph
Biden went further by insisting that Washington wanted
talks without preconditions. That meant ignoring five
resolutions passed by the United Nations' Security
Council demanding that Iran stop aspects of its
nuclear project. An expert in putting his foot in his
mouth, Biden encouraged Iran's Foreign Minister Ali
Akbar Salehi to provide positive accompanying music.
Then, Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Islamic Majlis and
a virtual candidate for the Islamic presidency, joined
the chorus by welcoming talks with the US.
A number of American pundits claimed that Obama's
personal charm and creative diplomacy was about to
succeed where five previous US presidents had failed.
Last Monday, however, that optimism was shattered when
Ali Khamenei, the Khomeinist regime's ?Supreme Guide?,
rejected any negotiations with the United States.
Some commentators inside and outside Iran have
interpreted Khamenei's stance as further proof that he
has lost touch with reality.
A closer look at the context, however, might show that
Khamenei's stance is very much based on reality: his
reality. Khamenei does not see Iran as a nation-state
but as a vehicle for a revolution with global
ambitions.
?I am not a diplomat,? he said amid cheers from a
crowd of supporters. ?I am a revolutionary.? The
regime that Khamenei heads is not meant to act in the
interests of Iran as a nation-state, but in the
interests of the Khomeinist cause. Where the interests
of Iran as a country clashes with those of Iran as a
vehicle for revolution the latter ought to prevail.
Thus any harm done to Iran as a country, and any
sufferings inflicted on the Iranian people, should be
tolerated as the price to pay for protecting the
revolution.
Like other regimes with messianic pretensions, the
Khomeinist regime is based on an ideology. On the
surface, that ideology is built around one of the many
Shiite versions of Islam. In reality, however, the
hard core of the Khomeinist ideology is a rather
primitive form of anti-Americanism. The United States
is ?The Great Satan? and, as Khamenei claims in his
latest speech, ?the core of evil in the world.? Not
surprisingly, Khamenei's speech was more often
interrupted by cries of ?Death to America? than shouts
of ?There is no God but Allah!? For the past two
decades at least, destruction of the United States has
been an openly acknowledged aim of the Khomeinist
regime. Every February Tehran hosts a conference on
?The End of America? drawing a crowd of professional
anti-Americans from all over the world including the
United States. Since 1984 Khamenei's office has
financed a group of African-Americans ?studying? the
creation of a secessionist state for blacks.
Khamenei fears that normalization with the US could
deprive his regime of the hard core of its ideology.
If the slogan ?Death to America? is set aside, what
might take its place? Like other totalitarian
ideologies, Khomeinism needs an external enemy that
can be blamed for all that goes wrong. Thus, the US is
blamed for Iran's economic meltdown, mass unemployment
and inflation.
Also like other totalitarian ideologies, Khomeinism
has a low opinion of the capacity of ?ordinary people?
to know what is good for them. If relations are
normalized with the US, the ?ordinary people? would
not be able to resist the seductive charm of America's
satanic culture. After all, before mullahs seized
power in Tehran, the US was the number one destination
for Iranians studying abroad. Today, the US is the
biggest magnate for the Iranian brain drain.
Even former Khomeinist officials do not resist
America's charm. Former Khomeinist ministers,
ambassadors, Majlis members, mullahs and Revolutionary
Guard officers are scattered all over the United
States. Some have joined think-tanks but many more
have set up businesses ranging from restaurants to
import-export companies. Officials who do not defect
to the ?Great Satan? send their children there to
study and, in time, obtain the coveted ?Green Card?
which is the key step to US citizenship.
Now imagine the re-opened US embassy in Tehran.
Who would prevent long queues formed by Iranians
anxious to travel to the land of the ?Great Satan??
Khamenei has always feared an American ?cultural
invasion?.
In 1994 he led a nationwide campaign against American
pop-music, T-shirts, baseball caps and videos and, in
a vitriolic sermon, lambasted Michael Jackson as ?the
symbol of corruption?. Trying to jam satellite
television broadcasting US-made programs has remained
a top priority of the ?Supreme Guide.? In his latest
speech, Khamenei warned that ?those who want to
restore America's domination in this country? would be
?taken by the throat? and presumably strangled.
Khamenei deserves credit for his constant position
vis-a-vis the United States. Talks might be acceptable
only if they result in total victory for Iran as a
vehicle for revolution. That would require an
unambiguous surrender by the United States on a
cluster of issues, starting with the acceptance of
Iran's nuclear project without any ?ifs? or ?buts?.
Next, the US would have to abandon its regional
allies, especially Israel, and terminate its military
presence in the Middle East.
The more Washington talks of talks the less likely
they become. Khamenei interprets Washington's position
as a sign of weakness that, in turn, justifies an even
tougher Iranian stance in the hope of securing more
concessions.
The problem is that, as a nation-state, Iran needs and
craves normal relations with the US. As a revolution,
however, normalization with the US would mean
ideological suicide.
As long as Iran suffers from its historic
schizophrenia, no one, not even Obama with his
mystique and charm, could cut this Gordian knot
through negotiations. To normalize relations with the
US, and the rest of the world for that matter, Iran
must first normalize itself, that is to say start
behaving like a normal country rather than a vehicle
for a mad ideology.
Amir Taheri was born in Ahvaz, southwest Iran, and
educated in Tehran, London and Paris. He was Executive
Editor-in-Chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran (1972-79).
In 1980-84, he was Middle East Editor for the Sunday
Times. In 1984-92, he served as member of the
Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI).
Between 1980 and 2004, he was a contributor to the
International Herald Tribune. He has written for the
Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the New York
Times, the London Times, the French magazine Politique
Internationale, and the German weekly Focus. Between
1989 and 2005, he was editorial writer for the German
daily Die Welt. Taheri has published 11 books, some of
which have been translated into 20 languages. He has
been a columnist for Asharq Alawsat since 1987.
Taheri's latest book "The Persian Night" is published
by Encounter Books in London and New York.
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