POLITICS-IRAN: Refusing to Be Provoked by the US

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Kimia Sanati

TEHRAN, Jan 15 2007 (IPS) - Iran has masterfully refused to be provoked by the United States military action of arresting six of its diplomatic staff during a raid on an Iranian liaison office in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, last week.

While Iran says that the six detainees were diplomats, the U.S. military claims they were members of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and that the arrests were meant to "prevent terrorist support". The incident came just one day after U.S. President George W. Bush unveiled his new strategy for Iraq and warned Iran against alleged interference in Iraq.

On Friday U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed that Bush had indeed issued orders to go after networks allegedly run by Iranians "after a period of time in which we saw increasing activity among Iranians in Iraq" and "increased lethality in what they were producing.&#39&#39

As the incident threatened to snowball into a major row, Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari sounded disapproving as he told the CNN news channel&#39s ‘Late Edition&#39 on Sunday that while ‘&#39any interventions or any harmful interventions to kill Iraqis or to provide support for insurgency or for the insurgents should be stopped by the Iraqi government and by the coalition forces, the facility in Iribil was a legitimate diplomatic mission&#39&#39. Zebari called for the release of the Iranians.

Analysts here see deeper game plan. "The U.S. provocation game puts Iran in a very difficult position. Should Iran react, that would entail stronger action from the U.S. because Iran can only either retaliate by targeting American interests or destabilise Iraq or the region for which it can then be held responsible. Iran cannot put too much pressure on the Iraqi government because that could alienate a Shiite dominated government it has been investing in,&#39&#39 an analyst in Tehran told IPS while asking not to be named.

"It seems that the U.S. is willing to play the card of provoking Iran. They tried it in the past during the Iran-Iraq war by attacking oil rigs and finally downing an Iranian passenger plane in the Persian Gulf," he said.

Statements made by Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Iran&#39s foreign ministry spokesman, seem to indicate wariness of a possible U.S. trap. "The U.S. attack on Iran&#39s consulate general is aimed at imposing pressure on Tehran to implement Washington&#39s new strategy," he told the press on Sunday, adding that Tehran would pursue the case via the United Nations.

U.S. troops, supported by three helicopters, entered the liaison office building in the early morning hours of Thursday and arrested the staff. Computers and documents in the office were also seized. One of the Iranians was released later but the others have reportedly been transferred to Baghdad. Iran insists that the detained officials have diplomatic immunity while U.S. officials refute this.

The U.S. military claimed in a statement on Sunday that the five detainees were connected to the IRGC Qods Force, ‘&#39an organisation known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilise the government of Iraq and attack coalition forces.&#39&#39

But Hosseini told the press that the ‘&#39activities of the consulate general staffers were consular, official and within regulations. What the Americans say is not true and is meant only to justify their irresponsible action.&#39&#39

Verifying that the liaison office in Irbil has been operating for several years and had the approval of the Iraqi government, Zebari also confirmed the diplomatic status of the arrested Iranians, the Aftab News Agency reported.

Spokesman Hosseini repeatedly referred to the raided facility as a consulate general and accused the U.S. of trying to vitiate Iran-Iraq relations. "U.S. troops are responsible for arresting the staff of the consulate," he told the press.

Local Kurdish authorities were not informed by the U.S. troops of the raid in advance. The bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Irbil released a statement Thursday, condemning the raid and saying it was against efforts at establishing security and stabilisation in Iraq. "We don&#39t want Iraq to become a battleground to settle scores with other countries," Zebari, a Kurd himself, told CNN.

Last month, four Iranian diplomats arrested in Baghdad by the U.S. troops in two separate raids were handed over to the Iraqi government and freed. A U.S. military statement then said they were linked to weapons shipments to illegal armed groups in Iraq. The arrests upset President Jalal Talabani who had invited at least two of the diplomats to Iraq to work on improving security in Iraq, his media advisor told the press at the time.

After the Irbil attack the Russian foreign ministry released a statement calling it "absolutely unacceptable" and a "violation of international law." The statement further said the U.S. forces&#39 action was an abuse of U.N. Security Council authorisation.

The attack was also condemned by Angelika Beer, a prominent European Union parliament member and chair of the delegation for relations with Iran in the European Parliament. "The Kurdish authority in northern Iraq has sufficient forces and if there was a problem, they could have dealt with that. The act is a kind of aggression and makes the situation more complex. We can&#39t agree with such an act," she told Islamic Iranian News Agency in an interview.

Popular reaction to has been strong especially after acting Friday prayer leader in Tehran, Ayatollah Jannati, called the attack a "foolish act" in his sermon. Jannati accused the U.S. and Britain of spreading discord among the Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq.

Following the prayers, worshippers chanted slogans such as "Death to Arrogance", "Death to Israel" and "Death to U.S." and called for the immediate release of the detained Iranians. They also called for a boycott of U.S. goods by Muslims around the world..

In its Saturday op-ed column, ‘Tehran Times&#39 attributed the threatening language of the White House towards Iran and the attack on the Iranian facility in Irbil to a desperation to save face in Iraq.

"Bush and neocons are throwing logic out the window as U.S. troops are becoming more bogged down in the Iraq quagmire, U.S. citizens are becoming weary of the war, and Bush&#39s plan to send more troops to Iraq has come under severe criticism in Congress. This is the only explanation for such a provocative attack on a consulate, which flouts international law, and for unfounded accusations against Iran," the editorial said.