The U.S. animosity toward the Islamic Republic of Iran became evident again when a top U.S. diplomat underlined Tuesday Washington’s opposition to a French-backed plan which, if realized, would see a pipeline built from Kazakhstan to Iran to export the massive oil reserves underneath the Caspian Sea. Steven Mann, the U.S. special envoy on Caspian basin energy issues, said that the United States is firmly opposed to this pipeline, for reasons of both law and policy. For reasons of law, what law but that which is coerced and endorsed by the U.S. alone? Does the U.S. not regard itself above all laws?
On the one hand, the U.S. is worried about its own interests in the region and on the other, in its dealings with the Islamic Republic it has always adopted a unilateral approach and has always proven to be a dog in the manger. It seems that the U.S. harbors a deep-rooted hatred towards Muslim countries, Iran in particular, because in its so-called identification of the axis of evil, the two on the top of the list were Muslim countries with huge oil reserves and natural resources. And this is no small surprise.
The campaign against terrorism was initiated for two apparent reasons: first of all, George W. Bush wished to give vent to his deep hatred for Muslims (after all, he frequently referred to his campaign as a crusade in order to provide an international cloak of legitimacy for his illegal actions); and secondly, he intended to embark on his journey for the land of black gold. It should not be imagined that the U.S. launched offensives against Afghanistan or Iraq out of its deep feelings of compassion or because President Bush felt he had a messianic mission to purify the countries from the evil of some despotic rulers. The voracious ghoul of egoism has run amuck. Someone must stop him otherwise the vampire of imperialism will suck dry the oil of Muslim countries one by one.
Mann referred to reasons of policy because the U.S. is fundamentally opposed to any transactions whatsoever with the Islamic Republic. Iran is among the few countries which have stood up against the bullying policies of the U.S. Iran has recently signed numerous long-term agreements with different countries despite the U.S. sanctions and the propaganda campaign the foes have been waging in order to distort the true image of Iran and Islam. So, it’s quite natural that developments in Iran would stoke the anger of Washington.
Speaking on the sidelines of the annual Caspian Oil and Gas conference in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, Mann said, “Commercially speaking, I think there are better alternatives.” However, he does not mention the better alternatives. Be that as it may, experts in the oil industry say the southern route, through Iran, is shorter and commercially more attractive. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in a recent interview with the Financial Times he thought a southern route for his oil reserves was “the most attractive” both for his country and for U.S. companies that operated there. “It would be better than Baku-Ceyhan, better than China, better than Russia,” he said, referring to the country’s existing infrastructure links. “It would be the best exit for us.” So this attests to the absurdity of Mann’s claim.
Iran is moving on a progressive path in improving ties with its neighbors and other countries. New hopes are on the horizon. Despite the deep-rooted spite of the foes, the U.S. in particular, Iran is trying to achieve better understanding with other states because Islam basically encourages interaction, and since Iran’s system is established upon the values and principles of Islam, it deems fit to abide by the rules and principles prescribed by Islam.
Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has sustained many wounds, such as the imposed Iran-Iraq war, which was initially choreographed by the enemies to debilitate the values of the revolution, a true revolution achieved at the cost of the lives of thousands of people. Now it’s time Iran healed its wounds.
