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Iran: Obama must seek 'new' Mideast foreign policy

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-22 09:54

CAIRO, Egypt – Iran said Wednesday it is "ready for new approaches" from US President Barack Obama as, across the Islamic world, countries cautiously welcomed his promise of mutual respect between the US and Muslims.

An Egyptian newspapers vender wearing a niqab, a veil that exposes only her eyes, sits in front of newspapers fronted by pictures of the inauguration of Barack Obama, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009. [Agencies]

Despite the reception, it remained clear that Iran and postwar Gaza will pose early tests of Obama's inauguration speech offer to the Muslim world to "extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

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Obama, who called the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Jordan Wednesday to voice his commitment to Arab-Israeli peace, said while campaigning that he would seek dialogue with Iran to defuse the yearslong confrontation over Tehran's nuclear ambitions and support of militant groups around the Middle East.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki struck a moderate tone soon after Obama's inaugural address, telling the country's state-run English language network, Press TV, "We are ready for new approaches by the United States."

Obama has not been specific on what incentives Washington might offer to end the deadlock between the two countries. Mottaki said Tehran was waiting for "practical policies" from the Obama administration before making any specific judgments.

In what may have been a suggestion for improving relations, Mottaki said that if Washington formally requests to open a diplomatic office in Tehran, Iran would study the idea. The US has not had any diplomatic mission in Iran since the seizure of the American Embassy and hostage crisis during Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Mottaki said Washington must change Bush administration policies that he described as "based on warmongering, occupation, bullying and unfair relations."

"A new Middle East is in the making. The new generation in this region seeks justice and rejects domination," Mottaki said, according to the state news agency IRNA.

The US-Iranian standoff has centered on fears that Tehran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, an accusation that Iran denies. But Iran has rejected demands it halt uranium enrichment despite the use of both sanctions and economic incentives. At the same time, the United States has been concerned over increasing Iranian influence around the Middle East, through its backing of Lebanon's Hezbollah, Palestinian militants, and Shiite groups in Iraq.

The situation in the Gaza Strip also presents an immediate challenge for Obama, after Israel's devastating 22-day offensive targeting the tiny territory's militant Hamas rulers. Obama remained largely silent about the violence, deferring to then-President George W. Bush.

But expectations are now high in the Middle East and Islamic world that Obama will intervene quickly.

In his phone calls to Middle East leaders, Obama emphasized his determination to help consolidate the cease-fire by establishing an anti-smuggling regime to prevent Hamas from rearming while working with the Palestinian leadership on a reconstruction effort in Gaza.

In the short term, an "extended hand" from the Obama administration could involve ensuring Gaza's borders reopen following the crippling closure in 2007 and international funds for rebuilding Gaza. In return, Hamas' "unclenched fist" would involve ending its rocket fire against Israel and giving its rival, US-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a foothold in Gaza.

There have been signs that elements within Hamas are open to compromise. While the group officially calls for Israel's destruction, one Hamas leader in Gaza, Ghazi Hamad, told journalists this week that Hamas would be satisfied with ending Israeli control over areas occupied in the 1967 Mideast War — the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

But Hamas is not monolithic and its Syrian-based leadership in exile often takes a harder line. It issued a statement in Damascus saying Obama will be judged by his policies and actions.

Some in Israel are also wary of Obama, fearing that he will make concessions to Iran and the Palestinians. "I liked Bush. Bush is good at fighting the terrorists. Terrorists all around the world," said Tal Kalderom, who owns a bakery in Jerusalem.

Among Arabs and Muslims, much of the good feeling for the new president hinges on whether Obama makes Israeli-Arab peacemaking an immediate priority and corrects what they perceive as a bias toward US ally Israel.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak pressed Obama in a congratulatory cable, saying, "the region has high hopes that your administration will deal with the Palestinian issue from its first day as an immediate priority and a key for solving other issues in the Middle East, which faces shaking crises."

Obama's inaugural speech promise of relations based on "mutual interest and mutual respect" played heavily in headlines across the Islamic world — and even some Muslim hard-liners cheered.

"We do welcome these comments. We can also anticipate good hope provided Obama really takes a new course of action toward injustices the Muslim world is facing at this moment," Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the head of Jamaat-e-Islami, a major hard-line Islamist party in Pakistan, told The Associated Press by phone.

Many were struck simply by Obama's tone.

"This man is not going to divide the world into good and evil, he won't describe Muslims as terrorists and he won't turn America into a global gangster," said Gamal Wafa, an Egyptian engineer who watched Obama speech on Al-Jazeera TV.