Iran’s new President, Hassan Rouhani, will be attending the fall session of the United Nations, along with other world leaders, a tradition at the end of each September.
Iran has been on a course to develop nuclear weapons, by every measure we have been able to gather through intelligence information.
But sanctions by the international community have had an effect on Iran’s economy, and the decision of the population to vote in a President who is looking for reconciliation with the West, makes one hopeful that Iran could reject nuclear weapons development, and just wish to develop nuclear power for peaceful uses.
Both the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the new President Rouhani have, in recent days, stated that they will never develop nuclear weapons, and want to end the state of tension between Iran and the US and other western nations.
The fact that they have said this does not mean we should, automatically, drop our guard on their possible threat to Israel, other Middle Eastern nations, and the entire world.
But with the new, conciliatory language, it seems worthwhile for President Obama, who will be attending the UN session later this week, to agree to meet with Rouhani, and start exploration of the possibility of negotiations and diplomacy, rather than continue a possible buildup toward military engagement.
Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, warns against trusting Rouhani and the Iranian government, and certainly, Obama and other Western leaders need to pursue engagement with Iran in a cautious manner.
But it is worth a try to see if Rouhani and Khamenei mean to have a serious discussion, as after all, the US always held summit meetings with Soviet leaders, so what is the danger in discussion, while keeping the possibility of the use of force in the background, if it is shown that Iran’s government is lying and is untrustworthy?
Any possibility of avoiding military force and war is worth a try, so hopefully, Obama will meet with Rouhani and explore the idea, without any pledge to drop possible military action in the future, if that, regretfully, becomes necessary!