Rouhani's charm offensive

Rouhani's charm offensive

By: Dave & Nita Anand

Not since 1979 had the Iranian and American heads of state spoken to each other.

 
So when that 15-minute telephone call between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and President Barack Obama took place last week, it instantly became the talk of the world, having generated so much interest and enthusiasm.

For all his “charm offensive” to woo American and western leaders - Rouhani seemed happy to take back a short telephone conversation as dividend for which – he got a shoe and dozen eggs thrown at him when he landed back home. A few hardliners (suspected to be supporters of Ahmadinejad), labeled Rouhani’s call as a “strange and useless action.”

Having been rebuffed earlier when Rouhani called off the “handshake ceremony” he had requested and Obama acceded to – Barack Obama seemed uplifted by that communication milestone since he spoke and vested high hopes in some kind of “Comprehensive Solution” awaiting to blow away the Iran’s nuclear issue. Hopefully, the goodbye or “khudaahafez” with which Obama ended the call will be much shorter than the previous 34-year silence to keep those hopes alive.

On a visit to New York, Rouhani, as Obama did earlier, addressed the opening session of U.N. General Council and gave several interviews afterwards to further clarify his views. In all of those appearances Rouhani emphasized on what he calls “constructive engagement” for reaching non-zero sum solutions to problems that our world faces. (For a layman, the non-zero sum means win-win).
 
In the op-ed Rouhani penned for the Washington Post, he wrote the following to define his constructive engagement: “In a world where global politics is no longer a zero-sum game, it is -- or should be -- counterintuitive to pursue one’s interests without considering the interests of others. A constructive approach to diplomacy doesn’t mean relinquishing one’s rights. It means engaging with one’s counterparts, on the basis of equal footing and mutual respect, to address shared concerns and achieve shared objectives. In other words, win-win outcomes are not just favorable but also achievable. A zero-sum, Cold War mentality leads to everyone’s loss.”
 
Compared to his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who focused mostly on denouncing America (by promoting terms like "Death to America" and "Great Satan” in Iran) and Israel, even denying the Holocaust at every opportunity, Rouhani seems to be the complete opposite of Ahmadinejad.

As a pragmatist, Rouhani has accepted the Holocaust as a historical fact and, with the positive approach he is employing, should be able to help Iran out of its myriad problems stemming from the crippling sanctions. Those sanctions have isolated Iran from international financial markets, sunk Iran’s economy by sinking its oil and banking industries, devalued its currency by over 50 percent and put its citizenry through painful sufferings due to widespread shortages, especially of the food and medicinal items.
 
WHAT LIES AHEAD

Both Obama and Rouhani have directed their foreign policy teams to exploit this unique opportunity and quickly work out an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program in which the lifting of sanctions will be the reward after Iran sincerely gives up its nuclear weapons program, while keeping its nuclear-electric-generation rights.
 
However, there are many naysayers and obstacles.
 
Fareed Zakaria of CNN GPS show had this to say: “One has to wonder: If Rouhani does not have the freedom to shake Obama’s hand, does he have the freedom to negotiate a nuclear deal?” Zakaria is on the dot since the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the ultimate authority, controls both the foreign and domestic policies of Iran, with Rouhani given limited powers.
 
But, as opposed to Ahmadinejad, both Khamenei and Rouhani are against the pursuit of nuclear arms as per experts, including Obama who said: “Iran's Supreme Leader has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons and President Rouhani has indicated that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons.”

“We should proceed with an open hand, but there can be a deal only when Iran’s actions align with its rhetoric,” is how Senators Robert Menendez and Lindsey Graham concluded in their joint op-ed titled “Iran’s messenger has changed. Its message has not.”

In his piece titled “The Real Rouhani,” Charles Krauthammer observed: “I’m for negotiations. But only if it’s to do something real, not to run out the clock as Iran goes nuclear. The administration says it wants actions, not words. Fine. Demand one simple proof of good faith: Honor the U.N. resolutions. Suspend uranium enrichment and we will talk. At least that stops the clock. Anything else amounts to being played and fooled like we have been a number of times before.”
 
While there is not much substance in the call itself, the United States has appraised the Israeli government about the Rouhani-Obama telephone talk. Israel, whom Ahmadinejad threatened to wipe off the face of the earth, is deeply skeptical of Rouhani’s lovey-dovey words and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has even called him a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
 
Even with all the naysayers and obstacles, the future portends to be full of hope since the initial talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, were quite positive in this respect.

It will be challenging to meet the expectations of Rouhani though - he wants an agreement in 3 to 4 months and sanctions lifted within 12 months for a nuclear mess that has taken decades to develop. But the potential for a solution has risen quite drastically with an off-the-cuff call that, in addition to Iran’s nuclear muddle, could end up sorting out the Syrian chaos, Hezbollah-Lebanon issue, Hezbollah-Israel animosity, Palestinian mess and Israel-USA-Palestinian triangulation, Iran-North Korea evil axis, Shia-Sunni animosity, oil market stability, and much more.

Telephone experts will tell you an addition of one telephone adds to the GDP of the entire world and there are tens of studies to enumerate the value added. Should this 15-minute talk lead to the comprehensive solution Obama and Rouhani are envisioning - the value added to the World-GDP as a result of a single call - will be in trillions, not billions.

Dave Anand (danand55@gmail.com), a former Telecom executive, has written and published two books: "People Super Highway, the Mystique & Quest of Soul" and "The Verses." Nita Anand is a psychologist.