Washington is signaling Tehran

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It is hard to believe that the following series of events, all of which took place within a short period, occurred by chance, without a guiding reason. Suddenly, despite the harsh threats voiced by the White House against Iran for trying to produce nuclear weapons, the world learned
that Iran's former president, Mohammad Khatami, received a tourist visa to visit the United States. He was not invited to official meetings, but President George Bush himself approved the visa request. Afterward, the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, received a visa for the United Nations General Assembly, and also an invitation to appear in New York before the Council on Foreign Relations. Shortly before this, the prime minister of Iraq, Nuri al-Maliki, visited Iran and held talks with its leaders. It is hard to believe that this visit by the Iraqi leader could have been made without coordination with Washington.

As though by chance, in the same week when Khatami was in the U.S., Bush invited a well-known correspondent for the Washington Post, David Ignatius, to interview him in the White House. The interview dealt with one subject alone: Iran. And it indicated a substantive shift in Bush's approach. He did not threaten military action against Iran, he did not even mention sanctions. He made do with saying that deep concern exists in view of the desire by some of Iran's leaders to develop nuclear weapons and the possibility of their attempting to make good on their declarations about attacking Israel and threatening the U.S.

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These developments will occupy several countries in the region. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, for example, will be extremely perturbed if they discover that Iran, a Shi'ite country, is acquiring a leading status in the region as a result of cooperation with Washington. This competition exists even without Iran's having nuclear weapons.

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These latest developments should also occupy Israel intensively. If an American-Iranian dialogue ensues, Israel will not be invited to take part in such talks, as it was not invited to contribute to the agreement that Washington and London worked out with Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.

Haaretz