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Iran's new alliances are creating
the basis for a major challenge to
US global power
Why the US
fears Iran
Paul Ingram
I
ran stands accused by the
US of developing nuclear
weapons, supporting
global terrorism and insur-
gents
in
Iraq
and
Afghanistan, and occasionally
of suppressing democracy
and human rights at home.
How important are these in
US policy  do they genuinely
drive Dick Cheney's manoeu-
vrings? What of Iran's new
alliances with Russia and
China, which have a signifi-
cance far beyond Central
Asia?
Iran's nuclear programme is a
genuine source of concern, a
potential threat to the aims of
non-proliferation.
But the problem is that the
West is demanding that all
manufacturing of nuclear fuel is
internationalised before global
moves are made to ban nuclear
weapons and wind down nuclear
power, with massive investment
in alternative energy sources.
Hypocritical commands to
Iran will eventually fail, and
Washington knows this.
Support for Hezbollah, Hamas
and `insurgents' is clearly a
response to what is perceived as
injustice and dominance by
Israel and the US. There are
solutions to this, which include
negotiated solutions. Such a
strategy would weaken radicals
within the Tehran regime.
A quick review of other factors explain US policy.
1. The US is goaded by the
ideological defiance of Iran to
the US and its influence in the
region;
2. Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas
are strong magnets on the Middle East street for those with
hatred of Israel and the US.
3. Iran presents a model that
challenges the western secular
capitalist agenda and has some
attraction across the region.
4. The Iranian revolution 28
years ago overthrew a close US
ally (the Shah) and then humiliated the Americans by taking
diplomats hostage.
5. There's always the issue
particularly close to Cheney's
heart  oil  Iran has the world's
second largest reserves of oil and
gas.
6. And then there's the habit
of projection. The US is driven
more than most by an ideology
of "realism" Â power through
military strength. He who lives
by the sword...
The new danger
But there is a particularly acute
reason for the Americans to be
focused upon Iran.
China, Russia and the Central
Asian states have been busy
building a new strategic alliance
called the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO), with Iran,
India and Pakistan as observers.
They have had joint military
and security exercises, and are
starting to collaborate over energy policies.
Iran is now China's largest
supplier of oil, oil that is critical
to China's growth plans. The
SCO has already told the US to
wind down its presence in Central Asia, and many American
strategists are profoundly worried for the wider implications,
now that the US has been so
weakened by its experience in
Iraq.
Oil-rich Iran could be the
front line in a new Great Game,
and if we are not careful, a new
and perhaps hotter Cold War.
Paul Ingram is co-executive director
of the British American Security
Information Council (BASIC), and a
weekly prime-time talk-show host
on Iranian television.
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