Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Litmus test for Obama' that was published in Newsband

Litmus test for Obama

Just recently a direct conversation between the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, and the President of the United States, Barack Obama, took place through telephone. The world sat up and took notice. This was the first conversation between US President and Iran’s Head of State after Jimmy Carter and the Shah of Iran had direct talks.

This chat was conducted through an interpreter. The very fact that the two Presidents talked with each other must be welcomed.

Both leaders are already facing resistance in their own countries and the path that lies ahead is difficult. President Rouhani has indicated his willingness to meet legitimate Western concerns about his country’s nuclear programme but he will not be able to carry his own domestic critics unless Mr. Obama can undo a part of the unilateral sanctions Washington has imposed on Iran.

Iran’s greatest regional rival, Saudi Arabia, will be very concerned about the Obama-Rouhani call, as will Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

The peace between the two nations is a welcome step for oil starved India. Behind the optimism, however, there is only a threat of US domestic pressures scuttling the peace process, with Iranians already endorsing their president's initiative. This is the time for Obama's leadership to handle the situation at home, if he's serious about peace in the Middle East.

India, being an ally of both countries, should look to enhance its international diplomatic power credentials and try to facilitate the two countries. A diplomatically and economically strong Iran would have a stabilizing effect on the region and certainly be a force to counter the unchecked spread of Wahabi extremism.

A man who received a Nobel Prize for peace cannot be swayed by detractors in Israel or Saudi Arabia. The distrust of Tehran has been so deep that every few months the US was reminding the world that Netanyahu's concerns were real and that evil existed in Iran that must be handled with force. The same evil has a new avatar in Rouhani who has stolen the thunder at the UN. Neither the US nor the rest of the world can ignore public opinion, which overwhelmingly judged Iran and Rouhani to be genuinely looking for a peaceful solution.

Minus Iran, no peaceful settlements are possible in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc. Resource rich Central Asia too will be impacted if Iran is supportive of world initiatives to tap into these.

There are lobbies which wouldn’t want the Iran problem to get solved. Jew lobby is the strongest which will never allow the solving of Iran problem even if Iran is compromising.

This is a litmus test for Barack Obama because of the powerful forces in the U.S that oppose any easing of tensions between America and Iran.