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Harsh words for Iran at Mideast forum |
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Sunday, 20 May 2007 |
SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan (Associated Press) - Washington's Arab allies harshly criticized Iran's growing influence in the Middle East, telling the country's top diplomat at a high-level conference Saturday that it must stay out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and be more open about its nuclear ambitions.
Dominating many discussions at the World Economic Forum was the deadly violence between the Fatah Palestinian faction and Hamas militants, which has helped stall a Saudi Arabian-sponsored plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the plan would flounder partly because Israel has no intention of striking a peace deal, but Arab countries focused their criticism on Iran.
"We had some 130 plans in the past 30 years, but none of them were realized because of the approach of the other side (Israel)," Mottaki said during a panel discussion. "Besides, we do not see any chance for the success of the Arab peace initiative because it fails to address fateful issues, like the capital of a Palestinian state and the right of return for some 5 million refugees."
Former Saudi ambassador to Washington Prince Turki al-Faisal scolded Iran, however, saying that the predominantly Persian country had little to do with Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
"It's an Arab issue and should be resolved within the Arab fold," he said.
Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit was even more blunt, saying: "The Iranian foreign minister was wrong when he said there were 130 plans on Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking ... The Arab peace plan is the first of its kind. It presents a clear and detailed path to peacemaking."
Mottaki insisted that his country's goal was to help the resolve the Middle East's concurrent crises, which he blamed on the U.S. and Israel.
"Iran was always part of the solution to the crisis in the region. We have been in contact with governments in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan," he said during the panel on Mideast security and stability, which also included Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
His words seemed unlikely to assuage many of the 1,000 forum participants, a great number of whom are political and business leaders from moderate Arab countries with strong military and diplomatic ties to Washington, and increasing worries about Iran's rising regional influence.
The U.S. accuses Shiite-ruled Iran of helping train and arm Shiite militias and some Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq. Arab countries on the Persian Gulf fear that rising Washington-Tehran tensions could turn explosive and they would be caught in the middle.
Mottaki said Iran planned to tell the United States during a May 28 meeting between the countries' ambassadors in Baghdad that its policies in Iraq were "wrong" and have led to failure, comments that set the stage for a potentially unproductive discussion.
Both Iranian and American officials have said that the talks in Baghdad will be limited to Iraq's security situation and will not delve into the diplomatic deadlock between the two countries over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is for peaceful energy generation, and the U.S. calls camouflage for weapons development.
Bahraini Crown Prince Sheik Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa called for Iran to be more open about that program.
"Iran should work in partnership with its neighbors and not at their expense," Al Khalifa said. "Iran can develop its technology for peaceful purposes, but that must be in a clear and transparent manner."
Abdulaziz Sager, the chairman of the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, also said Iran has not been forthcoming about its nuclear ambitions.
"We have serious problems with the Iranian government in this region," said Sager, who was part of the second panel with Mottaki.
"We do not wish to see this sort of attack," said Sager, who cautioned that better relations did not appear on the near horizon. "We would like to see normalized relations, but unfortunately, since Ahmadinejad came, they keep sending wrong signals."
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