Monday, May 08, 2006

Ahmadinejad sends letter to Bush

In a startling development that will no doubt catch Bush off guard, Iran's President Ahmadinejad has written to the US President suggesting that there may be other ways to end the present impasse over Iran's nuclear development.

This is the first time that an Iranian President has written to a US President since the Iranian revolution in 1979.

The letter will test whether Bush is being serious when he states that he is seeking a diplomatic solution to the question of Iran's enrichment of Uranium or whether he is merely using this as an excuse for further regime change in the Middle East.

The letter seems timed to coincide with the west's attempts to put pressure on Russia and China to agree to tougher action against the Iranians at the UN.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told Iran's Isna news agency that once Mr Bush had received the letter, the contents would be made public.

The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says whatever is in the letter, it is significant because it is the first such high-level communication between Iran and America for almost three decades.

As such it is a bold step by Mr Ahmadinejad, and the timing is key - just as the West is trying to persuade Russia and China to back tough action against Iran, she says.

Mr Ahmadinejad is reinforcing the point that he is willing to negotiate with anyone, including the US president, to avoid conflict over the nuclear issue, our correspondent adds.

The US and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since Washington severed ties with Tehran after Iranian students occupied the US embassy there and took 52 Americans hostage in 1980.

It's a clever move on Ahmadinejad's part, as it gives the Russians and the Chinese ammo to propose that Bush enter negotiations directly with Iran, something Bush seems reluctant to do.

Bush has famously refered to Ahmadinejad as the "new Hitler", so it's unlikely they'll be sitting down for a chat anytime soon. It will be fascinating though when we discover the contents of the letter.

Click title for BBC page.

2 comments:

Kevin said...

Good post. I hadn't thought of the letter that way yet. It really does put Bush on the spot and will determine if he is already committed to striking Iran or not.

Kel said...

It will be fascinating to see Bush squirm his way out of it.

He's getting nowehere at the UN. Did you read the Russian response to Bolton's attempts to censure Iran with a Chapter VII resolution?

http://the-osterley-times.blogspot.com/2006/05/russia-says-un-plan-for-iran-is-first.html

Totally threw it to one side. Bush is fast running out of options.