Israel has a hand in Pakistan’s events: Mottaki

[BaburCM]

ISNA - Tehran
Service: Foreign Policy


TEHRAN (ISNA)-Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki emphasized Israel has a hand in Pakistan’s events.

Some US army officials have commented on the collapse of Pakistan and in fact the warning could be considered as a hidden signal towards those who seek this objective, he told his audience of university students on Monday.

Describing the wrong move of some powers regarding Pakistan issues similar to what happened in Afghanistan, he said Tehran is trying to make them aware about their mistakes because it considers the issue a regional crisis whose resolution lies within the region.

Referring to the triple meetings of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan foreign ministers and the upcoming summit of presidents, he said they would set a roadmap to employ trilateral potentialities or other parties to gain the global support for the issue.

Tehran believes it should aid Pakistan’s stability and the two sides have made agreements that would help boost Iran’s eastern and central security, he noted.

Meanwhile, over ties with US the chief of Iran’s diplomacy said “Iran-US relations in a diplomatic and political sense is not on the agenda but there are different issues that influence the two countries and regarding such things the viewpoints and opinions are presented, the differences are illustrated and sometimes there are common interpretations as well.”

Tehran monitors US behavior towards Iran, West of Asia and the Middle East but it does not mean “that we have defined a strategy for eternal antagonism between the two countries.”

“Iran respectfully and precisely monitors the arguments raised by Obama regarding change, if there is an attempt in Washington for change of tune and vocabulary we will welcome it.”

The increase of awareness and failure of US policies indicates that change is not an option but a must for the US, Mottaki said and added “Obama acts as if he has perceived the message of necessity of change.”

Regarding ties with Cairo he said Egypt is a very important country in the Middle East and the world of Islam, however, governments’ policies may have agreements and disagreements towards one another.

“We consider Egypt’s stances in regard with certain issues to be advanced but in other cases we have serious criticisms,” he continued “our attitude in this regard is realistic and we consider Egypt’s capacities as an opportunity for the region.”

Tehran criticized Cairo’s stances when Israel attacked Lebanon and later Egypt rectified its stances, also there are differences regarding Gaza issue and Tehran tries to get more cooperation of Egypt with Palestinians because of Cairo’s influence, he explained.

There is no such a topic in Tehran’s agenda as resuming Iran-Egypt ties, Mottaki asserted “but regional issues are important and we pay attention to Egypt’s position.”

Source: ISNA - 05-05-2009 - 88/2/15 - Service: / Foreign Policy / News ID: 1331587

 

[Ratus Ratus]

Some interesting points in this:

Tehran believes it should aid Pakistan’s stability and the two sides have made agreements that would help boost Iran’s eastern and central security, he noted.

Is this a strengthening of border security from Tehran’s point of view and also dealings with militants in general crossings in the border regions?

The other points relate to the gentler comments about the overall approach towards the USA. Seems things on both sides are thawing very slowly.

The first line of the article seems in total a bit empty as it’s a one liner with no detail.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki emphasized Israel has a hand in Pakistan’s events
Considering the underlying Israel-India cooperation in some fields I would have expected this first line to be expanded in a bit of detail.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Tehran believes it should aid Pakistan’s stability and the two sides have made agreements that would help boost Iran’s eastern and central security, he noted.

I found it interesting the Interior Minister Rehman Malik mentioned that at least one of the three Baluch nationalists kidnapped from Quetta and killed a few weeks ago was an Iranian citizen (or used to be), given Iran's own Baluch secession problem.

There have been several agreements on patrolling and anti-smuggling and anti-narcotics cooperation. On the development side, provision of electricity from Eastern Iran to the border areas in Baluchistan, and possibly even the setting up of a dedicated power plant in Iran to supply electricity to Western Baluchistan, plus the seeming finalization of the IP(I) gas pipeline.

There have also been discussions over Afghanistan, which have not ended in rancor and dissenting statements, plus the suggestions floated over linking gas from Turkmenistan to the IP(I) pipeline, and therefore bypassing the TAP proposal.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

One other issue related to the comment over 'boosting Iran's Eastern and Central security' - Iran has complained that Baluchistan has been used by 'anti-Iran forces' (US support for insurgents in Iran?), so I wonder if Pakistan has been able to satisfy Iran on that count.

May also tie into the election of Obama, who, if such covert operations existed, may have put them on hold while he attempts engagement with Iran.