What does dialogue between the US and Iran really mean?

Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when Iran became an Islamic Republic, relations have been tense between Iran and the United States. Indeed, President George W. Bush refused to engage Iran in dialogue and he grouped Iran into what he called the axis of evil. Additionally, Bush stated that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists. This was part of his policy not to have dialogue with the “enemy”. His animosity towards Iran heightened tensions and many believed it was only a matter of time before some kind of war broke out involving Iran. Recently President Obama has publicly offered to engage in dialogue with Iran. He said that he is willing to talk with the leader of Iran and he is willing to have US diplomats meet with their Iranian counterparts. Neither of these actions would have been possible during the Bush administration.

This is a breakthrough in the field of conflict resolution. That may come as a surprise since the US wasn’t actually in a conflict with Iran but this move by President Obama is a form of conflict prevention. The two countries were not talking, tensions were high, and conflict was certainly possible. By engaging them the US will essentially be initiating conflict prevention and if carried out in the right way, there could be a transformation in the relationship between these two countries. The importance of such a transformation cannot be underestimated. Iran is a traditional spoiler in the Palestinian Israeli conflict. Iran’s support of Hamas and other Palestinian groups gives Iran some power over Palestinian decisions. This often handicaps Palestine’s negotiating power while prolonging the conflict. Iran has also been a subject of recent disagreements between the US and Russia. That being said, peace with Iran will take some burden off US-Russian relations as well. Therefore a transformation of US-Iranian relations would directly impact other conflicts and relationships around the world.

According to an article in Yahoo! News Iran has been invited to a conference on Afghanistan at the end of this month. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be representing the US at the conference. Meetings between other leaders from both countries are also very likely in the near future. The United States has nothing to gain by giving Iran the cold shoulder and raising tensions. By engaging Iran at least there is a possibility that peace can be secured between the US and Iran. This would also allow Iran’s nuclear intentions to be verified and possibly even altered. This is all speculation as of now, since this is recent news and none of these dialogues have actually taken place yet. However, Obama’s offer to open dialogue between the US and Iran is certainly a hopeful sign for the future and a departure from the policies of the past administration.

More information: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090321/pl_afp/usdiplomacyiranstrategy