Engaging Iran: Khatami in Australia, Calls for New Approach on Afghanistan

Geographically (but not politically) far away from the main arenas of US-Iranian relations, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (pictured) is touring Australia.

Speaking on Tuesday, Khatami's initial focus was the promotion of "global dialogue", the concept that he launched more than a decade ago in response to the notion of a "clash of civilizations". (Irfan Yusuf offers an interesting account.) He offered a general connection with the recent development in US-Iran relations, ""Let us not be worried about the big number of elusive politicians who are not yet prepared for dialogue. In an atmosphere of dialogue, neither side considers themselves as being in a position of power and would not speak from an upper position.

Khatami did address more specific matters, notably military intervention in Afghanistan.

Suggesting that Iran was pursuing a constructive approach to its neighbour through non-military programmes, he then urged Australia and other countries to withdraw their forces, as they were hindering rather than helping any solution:

A man who was very ugly, or a woman, I don't know, anyway someone, male or female, who was very ugly, cuddled a baby. Though he was cuddling the baby and saying nice things to the baby but the baby was more and more getting furious and crying. Someone came and told him, 'just leave the baby alone and he will be quiet. Your face is the real cause of this'.

So we see that some troops are coming all the way from the other side of the world there, in order to establish peace and security there. We tell them to just leave them alone, they would not cry any more.

Khatami faced challenging questions from the audience on human rights and Iran's position on Israel. The ABC News account cryptically notes, "Each question was handled delicately and with a determination not to inflame tensions," but a Brisbane newspaper provides Khatami's response: ""The ... Iranian nation has always looked forward to co-existing with different nations around the world."

Khatami also took on the nuclear question with a general reference to Iran and Israel, telling The Age:

If there is a real concern about proliferation, we have to tackle the problem of these countries right now having nuclear arms in the region, not putting pressure on a country that doesn't have such intention and there is no strategy of having nuclear weapons.

(Hat tip to Jinjirrie for the leads on this story.)