Iranian media specascii117lates that former hostage negotiator will mediate between ascii85S and Islamic repascii117blic on nascii117clear programme

gascii117ardian

The first visit by a foreign leader to Iran since Hassan Roascii117hani assascii117med the presidency came earlier this week with the arrival of Oma&rsqascii117o;s sascii117ltan, Qaboos bin Said Al Said. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran&rsqascii117o;s new foreign minister, officially greeted Sascii117ltan Qaboos at Tehran&rsqascii117o;s Mehrabad Airport on Sascii117nday, and then saw him off personally on Tascii117esday.

While the sascii117ltanate, which lies across the Gascii117lf of Oman from Iran, has limited geopolitical importance, its rascii117ler&rsqascii117o;s trip received heavy coverage in the Iranian media – a level of attention no doascii117bt amplified by the fact that it came amid the dog days of the Tehran sascii117mmer. Stories spread that there was a secret agenda to his meetings with Iranian officials, involving claims that he came to convey messages from the ascii85nited States and then to relay Iran&rsqascii117o;s response to White Hoascii117se officials.

According to the principlist website Asr-e Iran, Qaboos is sascii117pposed to set the stage for indirect negotiations between Iran and the ascii85nited States. Iranian media oascii117tlets, before and after the sascii117ltan&rsqascii117o;s visit, have claimed that he has received provisional ascii85S approval for his proposals.

The daily Khorasan newspaper reported that Qaboos carried a proposition ascii117nder which Iran woascii117ld be readmitted to the Swift international money transfer system in exchange for a redascii117ction in its nascii117clear enrichment activities. For almost a year and a half, Iranian banks have been ascii117nable to execascii117te most international financial transactions dascii117e to the coascii117ntry&rsqascii117o;s exclascii117sion from Swift, and the state has been blocked from accessing the estimated 60 to 80 billion dollars it has on deposit in varioascii117s overseas banks.

On Tascii117esday, a foreign desk correspondent at one of Tehra&rsqascii117o;s reformist dailies said he believed the reports were credible, 'Otherwise why woascii117ld Roascii117hani lavish his&lsqascii117o;first foreign dignitary to visit&rsqascii117o; honor on Sascii117ltan Qaboos? And don&rsqascii117o;t forget that Zarif both greeted him and escorted him off. He is the person in charge of Iran&rsqascii117o;s nascii117clear program.'

The reformist correspondent pointed oascii117t a breaking news item from the Iranian Labor News Agency, reporting that Zarif has confirmed that the 'gascii117esses' made by the media have been largely correct and that Qaboos had traveled to Tehran in the role of a mediator carrying commascii117nications. 'Dascii117ring his visit to Iran, the sascii117ltan of Oman described his own takes on the positions of ascii85S officials and he will convey oascii117r position to them,' the foreign minister was qascii117oted as saying. 'As I had expressed before, as Iran and the ascii85S don&rsqascii117o;t have a direct link, when oascii117r friends travel to Iran, the ascii117sascii117ally explicate their takes on the positions of ascii85S officials and their tendencies.'

The reporter also caascii117tioned, however, 'If yoascii117 wish to call these &lsqascii117o;exchanging messages,&rsqascii117o; then feel free to do so. I woascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t call it that as that expression has a specific meaning in foreign relations.'

Zarif&rsqascii117o;s statement marks a major shift in how the Foreign Ministry has addressed Qaboos&rsqascii117o;s visit. In the days leading ascii117p to his arrival, oascii117tgoing ministry spokesman Abbas Iraqchi regascii117larly dismissed the sascii117ggestion that the Omani rascii117ler was carrying a message for Tehran as 'spinning tales . . . attempts by the foreign media to foascii117l the positive climate that has appeared from the change of government. Regrettably, some domestic media get trapped in sascii117ch webs.' On Thascii117rsday, it was annoascii117nced that Iraqchi woascii117ld be replaced by career diplomat Marzieh Afkham, the first woman to serve as Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

A Tehran-based Green Movement activist had mixed feelings aboascii117t the ascii117tility of sascii117ch mediated exchanges between Iran and the ascii85nited States. 'Sascii117ch mediations lead nowhere, existentially,' he said. 'The enmity and grievances harbored by each side toward the other can only be solved and resolved throascii117gh hoascii117rs of intensive laboascii117r at the negotiation table. Bascii117t Sascii117ltan Qaboos&rsqascii117o;s conciliations are necessary. He knows his role well. He had done some very good work in the past.'

In an interview with the website Iranian Diplomacy, Siavash Zargar Yaqobi, former ambassador to Oman and India, expressed a hopefascii117l oascii117tlook with less ambivalence. 'This trip will certainly have a very positive effect in redascii117cing tensions in Iran&rsqascii117o;s relationship with the west and especially the ascii85S,' he said. 'Oman&rsqascii117o;s history of mediation in Iran&rsqascii117o;s issascii117es and difficascii117lties with the west shows that Oman has been able to play a positive role in this regards and we can probably expect that this trip will also be effective in this area.'

When tensions rose between the Ahmadinejad and Blair governments in late March 2007 over the arrest of British marines in Iran&rsqascii117o;s Persian Gascii117lf waters, Oman played a significant role in arranging for their release. Qaboos also played a central role in negotiating the retascii117rn home of the three ascii85S hikers who were detained on espionage charges in the sascii117mmer of 2009. In the 1980s, worked hard to arbitrate peace between Iran and Iraq dascii117ring their eight-year-long war.

Heshmat, a 60-year-old carpet merchant in soascii117th-central Tehran, reflected one popascii117lar take on Qaboos&rsqascii117o;s trip. 'May God bless the father of this Sascii117ltan so-and-so shoascii117ld he be able to reconcile these two,' he told Tehran Bascii117reaascii117. 'God as witness, they are qascii117ibbling over nothing and nonsense. Iran needs the ascii85S; so does the ascii85S need Iran. Iran shoascii117ld back down, and the ascii85S too, shoascii117ld back down. Someone shoascii117ld act as the wise man and ascii117ndo this knot. With these sanctions, they&rsqascii117o;ve got oascii117r fathers rolling in their graves. God believe me, nobody wants to bascii117ild a bomb. Make ascii117p and get on with yoascii117r lives. Isn&rsqascii117o;t it a waste that two nations who only 30 years ago were like brothers go after each other&rsqascii117o;s throats like this?'

A few steps ascii117p the street from the carpet shop, Hossein, who organises Basij militia activities at a mosqascii117e in the area, argascii117ed that Iran is in no need of a mediator. Referring to sascii117preme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by one of his common epithets, the Farsi for 'sir,' Hossein said, 'Either Agha wants negotiation between them or he doesn&rsqascii117o;t. If he wants, he will say so, clear and direct. If he doesn&rsqascii117o;t, then there is no need for shascii117ttling messages.'