Trips That Have Lost Their Purpose
The visit that Iran?s Foreign Minister Manoutchehr Mottaki paid to the European Parliament last week was widely covered in the Western press.
In the first place, his mere presence in the European Parliament which came soon after EU?s strongest criticisms and a specific resolution on the dreadful conditions of human rights in Iran just a few earlier also condemning the country?s nuclear policy, which included the recommendation that the UN Security Council take over Iran?s nuclear dossier, was an event of significant importance. But perhaps even more important was the position the minister took at the European Parliament, which reflected the views of Iran?s new government about international arrangements.
Mottaki came to the EU at a time when Iran has been in the headlines for some time over its nuclear and human rights situation. The despicable comments of president Ahmadinejad about Israel and the Holocaust, the gross violations of rights of political prisoners in Iran, attacks on foreign embassies in Tehran, repeated executions or such court rulings, etc and finally reports that Iranian authorities and officials are adamant in their defiance of not cooperating with the monitoring activities of the IAEA, are just some examples of the headlines that have been forming public opinion about Iran outside its borders. This opinion has been solidifying against Iran especially after Iran revoked the Paris agreement under which it had suspended all nuclear enrichment activities and after it announced that it was resuming enrichment work. These have been interpreted to mean that Iran is in fact back in the pre-confidence-building days, when secrecy and deception were the norm.
What is surprising is that Mottaki comes to the EU at this time and with such a European public opinion about the government he represents and claims that ?The Islamic Republic aims at building confidence in the international community?!
It is thus difficult to understand what senior Iranian officials think or understand of European public opinion or their leaders. How can one believe European politicians and public to be so naïve as to expect them, under the current sensitive conditions, to take the minister?s words seriously, and in fact ignore all the steps the government in Tehran has taken to undermine any confidence building?
The fact is that the position of Iran?s government in the world is so bad that speeches which in fact display to international audiences the duplicity and deception of that government more than anything else have no effect on changing that opinion. Under the current conditions, the only issues that can have an impact on the current adverse relations between Iran and Europe are serious practical measures of the government of Iran regarding its nuclear policy and its human rights situation.
If changes in these two areas are not made, it is better that Mr. Mottaki and other senior diplomats of the Islamic Republic not take the trouble of making useless diplomatic trips. One should view this in light of the fact that in the not too distant future, it may not even be possible for Iranian officials to get visas to come to the European Union at all.
Farah Karimi is a member of parliament in The Netherlands and a regular contributor to Rooz.