Qualifications for Obama’s Top Iran Diplomat
President Barak Obama has passed over naming Dennis Ross to top Middle East or Iran policy jobs. This is an intelligent move. Ross has been correctly associated as a major negative factor in the failed Clinton administration peace negotiations. Ross has also been perceived to be too much in the service of the objectives of the state of Israel and its US lobby to effectively negotiate on behalf of broader American interests.
His recent policy paper “Strengthening the Partnership: How to Deepen U.S.-Israel Cooperation on the Iranian Nuclear Challenge” (chartered by an AIPAC affiliated think tank) is a short roadmap for US military confrontation with Iran. It advocates blockades (an act of war which has brought poverty to Gaza) and ultimately military strikes on Iran. But US policy outcomes toward Iran are neither a foregone conclusion, nor should they mirror failed Israeli strategies.
Any “super” US envoy to Iran needs proper qualifications and reputation. They will have to have to gain the confidence of the Iranians and American voters. He or she must be deeply knowledgeable about the region and willing to engage in bona fide negotiations, rather than merely insisting on unilateral concessions under the veiled threat of military force. An American envoy must also break with the curious but useless tradition of “strategic ambiguity” regarding the Israeli nuclear arsenal. To do otherwise makes it look as though the United States is merely asserting Israeli nuclear hegemony over the region rather than seeking peace.