Hillary Clinton e il Ministro degli esteri Iraniano Manoucheher Mottaki si sono trovati faccia a faccia. Il non incontro è stato raccontato – con toni vagamente da soap opera -- ai giornalisti che l’accompagnano sull’aereo per Washington: “Mi sono alzata, lui sedeva a una paio di sedie di distanza e stava stringendo la mano a qualcuno. Mi ha visto, si e’ fermato e si e’ girato dall’altra parte. Gli ho detto ‘Hello, ministro.’ Lui semplicemente si e’ girato dall’altra parte.”
Il che ha dato modo a giornalisti come Shannon Ireland di Reuters di usare per il suo titolo la battuta virale dal film Jerry Maguire del ’96 con Tom Cruise: “you had me at hello” [“mi avevi gia’ convinto al ciao”]. Che adesso e’ diventato: “Hillary Clinton l’aveva gia’ perso al ciao”.
Purtroppo non si tratta di una soap opera. Agli appelli, con tono da maestrina, della Clinton all’Iran a rispettare i suoi “obblighi internazionali”, Mottaki ha risposto durissimo accusando gli USA di voler dividere e conquistare gli arabi.
Hillary Clinton rivolta all’Iran: “Vi chiediamo con forza di ristabilire la fiducia della comunità internazionale e di rispettare I vostro obblighi internazionali. Sfortunatamente I più recenti rapporti dell’Agenzia Atomica riflettono ancora una volta che l’Iran ha scelto una strada diversa, una strada che porta ad una maggior preoccupazione internazionale, all’isolamento e alle pressioni.”
Mottaki: “Il popolo americano aveva dato a Obama il mandato di fermare le guerre. Non l’ha fatto. Vediamo le stesse politiche iniziate da Bush. [Gli USA] hanno bombardato l’Afghanistan e poi sono diventati così arroganti da non sentire neanche il bisogno di un permesso dall’ONU per bombardare l’Iraq. Hanno ucciso gente innocente… Noi siamo felici che l’Arabia Saudita rifiorisca, Siamo felici che il Bahrain e’ diventato un centro bancario importante. Perché non dovremmo esserlo? Sono nostri fratelli musulmani… E’ la presenza di potenze straniere nella nostra regione che e’ la causa immediata delle divisioni… Perché dovremmo volere l’arma nucleare?... Noi non abbiamo mai cercato di avere armi di distruzioni di massa… Anche quando siamo stati attaccati con armi chimiche [guerra Iran Iraq] negli anni Ottanta. Non abbiamo mai cercato di costruire queste armi che, incidentalmente, erano state date all’Iraq dal governo americano ed da europei…”
[Umberto Pascali]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/7045875.cms?prtpage=1
REUTERS, Dec 5, 2010, 05.42am IST
SHANNON, IRELAND:
Hillary Clinton lost him at "hello."
The US secretary of state had a rare chance to interact with Iran's foreign minister at a Bahrain security conference, which Hillary used to deliver a message to Tehran on the need to engage with the international community over its nuclear program at next week's talks in Geneva. But while Hillary's keynote speech from the podium directly addressed the Iranian team led by foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki, her attempt at a more personal diplomacy with Mottaki fell distinctly flat.
"I got up to leave and he was sitting a couple of seats down from me and shaking people's hands and he saw me and he stopped and began to turn away," Hillary told reporters on her plane returning to Washington on Saturday. "I said 'Hello, minister.' He just turned away."
While the US secretary of state laid out her case for broader Iranian engagement, Mottaki concentrated on his dinner — giving no sign that Washington's latest message to Tehran had been heard. REUTERS
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article208118.ece
US wants to divide and rule Muslims: Iran
By SIRAJ WAHAB | ARAB NEWS
Published: Dec 4, 2010 23:12 Updated: Dec 4, 2010 23:12
MANAMA: Iran cautioned the Muslim world against falling prey to American machinations and dismissed allegations it is building a nuclear weapon.
Speaking on the second day of the International Institute for Strategic Studies Regional Security Summit at the Ritz-Carlton Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki blamed the American presence in the region for its instability.
“They bombed Afghanistan (after 9/11) and then became so arrogant that they did not even feel the need to take the permission of the United Nations to bomb Iraq. They killed hundreds of innocent people in Iraq — people who had committed no crime,” he said in Farsi.
He accused the US of spreading lies and deception, citing the recent WikiLeaks controversy, and claimed that Iran was a friend to all Arab and Muslim countries in the region. “We are happy when Saudi Arabia flourishes. We are happy to note that Bahrain has become an important center of international banking. Why should we not be happy? These are our Muslim brothers,” he said while driving his point home.
It is the foreign intervention that is to blame for all the ills afflicting the region, he said. “It has been proven that foreign intervention creates unhealthy rivalries between neighbors. It is the presence of foreign powers in our region that is the immediate cause for regional divisions and strife.”
He denied claims that Iran was building a nuclear weapon and claimed the Americans were spreading lies.
“We are not. And let me clarify that throughout our 700 years of history and culture we have not used force against any of our Arab neighbors ... We cannot even think of it because our neighbors are Muslims.”
He said Muslim countries must not submit to pressures by outsiders that divide them and create instability and create divisions among friends in the region. “In the region it has been proven that foreign intervention creates unhealthy rivalries between neighbors.”
Iranian nuclear power, he said, will benefit the entire Muslim world. “Muslims must be happy to see other Muslims becoming powerful ... Our power is your power, and your power is ours,” he told the high-powered gathering. “We must not allow the Western media to tell us what to think of each other.”
According to him, things have not changed under US President Barack Obama. “We see the same policies are in motion that were started by (George W.) Bush. The American people had given Obama the mandate to stop the wars. He did not do so and was therefore punished in recent elections,” said Mottaki.
He said Iran is fully aware of the dangers of building nuclear weapons. “A nuclear bomb does only one thing: it destroys everything. Why will we go for such a weapon? Look at our history and show one instance where we have used force? We never sought weapons of mass destruction. Even when we were attacked by chemical weapons in the 1980s we did not think of building such weapons. These chemical weapons were by the way supplied by the American and European governments to Iraq.”
As recently as Thursday, the UN International Atomic Energy Agency restated that Iran was not fulfilling its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which it is signatory. The UN imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran in June for its continued noncompliance with the international watchdog group.
“It has been six months since they introduced the sanctions, and if they need more time in order to see if these sanctions worked they can wait a longer time. The sanctions have no impact on us,” the 57-year-old Iranian career diplomat maintained.
According to one report, Mottaki’s remarks disputed comments by US officials ahead of Monday’s nuclear talks between Iran and major powers that US and UN sanctions on Iran have taken the Islamic republic’s regime by surprise.
William Burns, the top US negotiator for the so-called P5+1 talks with Iran, said the sanctions were “sharply” isolating Iran from the global financial system.
“Iran may be losing as much as $50 to $60 billion in potential energy investments, along with the critical technology and know-how that comes with them,” he said on Wednesday.
© 2010 Arab New
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/12/152354.htm
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Ritz Carlton Hotel
Manama, Bahrain
December 3, 2010
SECRETARY CLINTON: Good evening, Your Majesty, Royal Highnesses, Highnesses, ministers, ambassadors, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen: It is a great pleasure for me to join you this year for the seventh annual Manama Dialogue.
And I want to congratulate the International Institute for Strategic Studies for the vision of this Dialogue and for convening what I am sure will be another thought-provoking conference. Every year, this Dialogue makes a valuable contribution to regional security by giving the Gulf states and their partners a chance to discuss urgent challenges, bring new issues to light, and find avenues for common action toward common goals.
I want to thank His Majesty King Hamad and His Royal Highness Salman for hosting us so graciously, and I also thank the foreign minister for meeting with me earlier today. As I have told our gracious host, this is my first trip to Bahrain. It’s one I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, and I can attest that the hospitality is just as warm as promised.
…..
At this time, I would like to address directly the delegation at this conference from the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
I am pleased to have this opportunity for your government and mine to gather here with representatives from other nations to discuss problems of mutual concern and interest.
In Geneva next week, the P-5+1 will meet with representatives from your nation – the first such meeting since October of 2009. (Applause.) We hope that out of this meeting, entered into with good faith, we will see a constructive engagement with respect to your nuclear program.
Nearly two years ago, President Obama extended your government a sincere offer of dialogue. We are still committed to this offer.
But the position of the international community is clear. You have the right to a peaceful nuclear program. But with that right comes a reasonable responsibility: that you follow the treaty you signed, and fully address the world’s concern about your nuclear activities. We urge you to make that choice – for your people, your interests, and our shared security. We urge you to restore the confidence of the international community and live up to your international obligations. Unfortunately, the most recent IAEA report reflected once again that so far Iran has chosen a different path, one that leads to greater international concern, isolation, and pressure.
We know that Iran is home of one of humankind’s great civilizations. The Iranian people are heirs to that tradition with tremendous potential to contribute to the world we are building together. And the world in turn would benefit from the full participation of the Iranian nation in the political, social, and economic life of this region.
We continue to make this offer of engagement with respect for your sovereignty and with regard for your interests – but also with an ironclad commitment to defending global security and the world’s interests in a peaceful and prosperous Gulf region….
