No Rohani-Obama meeting at the UN

Crescent International

Dhu al-Qa'dah 18, 1434 2013-09-24

Daily News Analysis

by Crescent International

The Americans were very anxious for President Barack Obama to have a "chance encounter" with President Hassan Rohani of Iran at the UN. The meeting, however, did not take place because Iran felt the proper ground was not prepared for it. Unlike the US, Iran is not interested in photo-ops; it wants serious discussion on all issues and is anxious to resolve these through dialogue held in an atmosphere of mutual respect and dignity.

New York,

September 24, 2013, 17:27 EDT

The Obama regime and its pliant media had created much hype about a “chance encounter” between Iranian President Hassan Rohani and US President Barack Obama at the United Nations on September 24 but the Iranian delegation turned down the suggestion.

Earlier today, Tehran said there were no plans for a meeting between President Rohani and his American counterpart at the UN General Assembly. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told reporters in Tehran in her weekly press briefing that “Such a meeting is not on the agenda.”

Despite this clear rejection of a meeting, the Obama regime and its minions in the media kept talking about “an encounter” in hopes of making it happen. Why the Americans were so keen for such a meeting to take place can be discerned from the fact that the US has dug itself into a hole in a number of places and wants someone to dig it out. Afghanistan is one such place; Syria is another. Obama, however, has been blowing hot and cold about Syria and has even reneged on his agreement with Russia that allowed it a face-saving climb-down but old habits die hard.

In his address to the UN General Assembly, Obama again repeated his unproven allegations against the Syrian government having used chemical weapons on August 21. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he has clear proof that Syrian soldiers were not involved. This is based on the fact that the kinds of missiles used were never supplied to Syria. These probably came from Libya where various militias looted the munitions from military barracks. Russia had supplied them to the regime of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi. He was overthrown and murdered in October 2011. Since then, Libya has been in turmoil.

Regarding the Rohani-Obama “handshake”, Ms Afkham of Iran’s Foreign Ministry said: "The right situation must present itself for this meeting. Our assessment is that it has not been presented yet."

Visibly disappointed, the Americans tried to spin it differently although a White House spokesman had talked up the possibility of such a meeting for several days. Even earlier today, it was said that the US had left the door open to such an encounter in hopes that Iran might change its mind.

President Hassan Rohani also skipped lunch today at the UN because alcohol was being served. The lunch was organized by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and it was thought the two leaders—Rohani and Obama—might come face to face—“by chance” of course—during the luncheon and might have a handshake.

Instead, the contact between Iran and the US would occur on Thursday when Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attends the meeting of P5+1 to discuss Iran’s nuclear program and see if a roadmap for future meetings could be worked out. Present at the Thursday meeting would be US Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of Russia, China, UK, France and Germany.

This will be the first high level encounter between Iranian and US officials since the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran and the termination by the US of diplomatic relations in early 1980. In the past, Iranian officials had met American officials as part of multilateral gatherings. Thursday’s meeting will be the first direct Iran-US contact relating to Tehran’s nuclear program.

END