I have written posts on the extensive lobbying on behalf of the current Iranian regime by figures such as slippery Seyed Hossein Mousavian (see previous post), Trita Parsi (see previous post) and Kaveh Afrasiabi (see previous post).
But for a while the moderate faces of the Islamic of the Republic abroad had disappeared from sight. Well… they are back.
In this Telegraph piece, Mousavian – the former nuclear negotiator for Iran – is at least being utilized and quoted almost as an official spokesperson for the Iranian position. Having read his opinion piece in the Boston Globe a few weeks ago, one would have thought he was actually the ambassador for Iran, in the US.
Indeed when reading Mr Mousavian, we must not forget his nuclear strategy which he describes so vividly in his book ‘The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir (2012) pp 98-99 (abridged).
“Do away with the threat of BoG reporting Iran’s nuclear case to the Security Council; diminish international community opposition to an Iranian nuclear program in principle; address concerns about the nature of Iran’s nuclear activities; lay the groundwork for the transfer of nuclear technology to Iran; reduce world public opinion hostility to Iran; and pursue a long-term strategy of “turning threats into opportunities.”
The Huffington Post meanwhile appears to have breathed some fresh life (HuffPost live) into lobbyist extraordinaire Trita Parsi, after his embarrassing court case had left him lifeless in our sphere of interest.
In fact, the Huff Post seems to be in the habit of resuscitating embarrassed political figures; as long as they preach the party line on Iran (see research on Huff Post’s reporting on Iran). Dominique de Villepin, the former French foreign minister accused of all sorts of incongruities and corruption, has thrown his proverbial hat into the Iranian nuclear ring.
It appears that as long as you are on message; you can get your spot on the Huffington Post.
However, De Villepin’s former counterpart during the Iranian crisis’ infancy period, Joschka Fischer (former German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor) has a more nuanced view. There are no delusions in Fischer’s astute geopolitical analysis of the Middle East and the complexities of dealing with an Iran which sees itself as the exclusive regional hegemonic power.
His comments below are just a small slice of a lengthy piece on Project Syndicate…
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-persian-knot
“… Iran, where some influential people still think that the US can be forced out of the Middle East, and that the status quo can be changed to install Iran as the region’s hegemonic power. This illusion, no less than Western hopes of regime change in Iran, could be seriously pursued only at an indefensibly high risk of war and regional chaos.”
And last, but certainly not least… we have another former Iranian official (and current unofficial spokesperson!), Kaveh Afrasiabi (see my lengthy critique of his analysis).
He also took a summer holiday, but is back and writing again for the Asia Times. In this article, entitled ‘New signs of Iran Nuclear Flexibility’, we can read a yet another lengthy defense of the Islamic Regime’s official nuclear stance.
As has been demonstrated in past posts, Afrasiabi is a known propagandist and Ahmadinejad loyalist; and should be treated as such.
So beware of the three musketeers. All of whom present themselves as objective analysts, Iran experts, Middle Eastern commentators etc. They are, however, all avid spokesmen for the Iranian regime – which in case you missed it, has started to talk publicly about enriching uranium beyond the current 20%, to 60%!!
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