Ahmadinejad''s appearance before UNSC would make things worse -- US official

By Salwa Jandoubi UNITED NATIONS, March 23 (KUNA) -- Scheduled appearance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Saturday -- to lecture its members before a vote on a resolution tightening and widening sanctions on his regime to curb its nuclear ambition -- is seen by a US diplomat as an occasion to flare up the situation between Tehran and Washington, while other officials view it as an unwise move.

"The Iranians are going to come on our (US) soil and say we won't abide by the Security Council resolutions, so it's going to make things worse when they are here," a US diplomat told KUNA in reference to Ahmadinejad's appearance before the council.

"Unless Ahmadinejad is coming to say we (Iranians) will comply with this resolution, things will get worse ... it's going to heat things up," the diplomat added, recalling that the Iranian ambassador walked out of the UNSC meeting last time it met.

The diplomat ruled out that a military strike would be a solution.

Although it will be the second time in a month that Iranian and American officials sit around the same table, the first being in Baghdad on March 10, no easing of tension is foreseen.

Iran has defied the West by refusing to abide by UN demands to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, insisting that it is meant for peaceful purposes, but the West fears Teheran is intending to produce a nuclear bomb.

Charles Ferguson, Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told KUNA that the impact of President Ahmadinejad's speech would depend on what he has to say.

"If he continues to insist on not suspending Iran's uranium enrichment program, he will not win over the US and partner governments. If he is conciliatory and open to compromise on the question of suspension, he could open the door for negotiations.

"Either way, I believe that it will be an important speech that will provide a guide to where the Iranian nuclear issue is headed," he said.

South Africa's envoy Dumisani Kumalo and UNSC President said he was "worried that this is slowly building up and it may spiral into a situation we don't understand." In the meantime, diplomats do not believe his appearance before the council would change anything. He will just "make a fool of himself," they said.

"I don't think it will change anything in the council or on the ground in the Middle East," a British official told KUNA.

If he comes, he added, "it will show that the West is open to hearing the Iranian position, listen to what they have to say, which is good. We've always said we don't want to marginalize Iran. Iran has a great history and is a great country." He said that Iranian UN envoy Javad Zarif, "one of the most eloquent ambassadors in New York, never changed the council's minds on a resolution, so I doubt that Ahmadinejad will." A French diplomat said Ahmadinejad's possible appearance before the council represented a "success to us in the council. It suits us. It means the council is important for him and ... it is creating a debate in Iran." He said Ahmadinejad, who had always ignored UN resolutions, was finally recognizing the importance of the council.

South Africa's Kumalo, on the contrary, said, "It is significant that the president of Iran feels so strongly that he wants to appear himself and speak to the members directly about this resolution. That's very significant." Others, however, wonder why Ahmadinejad, who believes the UN resolutions against his country are humiliating, wants to witness another slap to his country, especially that he was not invited.

For sure it will be a "historic, theatrical appearance," they say. "But for what? To be slapped again even by Russia and China he thought were his allies? To show the international community first hand that his policy is failing?" "It will be too late to change minds," they noted.

The draft will be adopted even though Qatar, Indonesia and South Africa may abstain in the vote.

What diplomats also fear is that once the resolution is adopted, Ahmadinejad, whether in the council chamber or outside, "would pay the council back by announcing that his country is withdrawing from the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT)." Other officials told KUNA that Amadinejad also wants to repeat history by addressing the council.

Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mussadeq addressed the council in 1951 and succeeded in having the members defer the issue of the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, brought before the council by the UK, to the International Court of Justice which ruled in 1952 in favour of Iran.

What the Iranians forget, the officials added, is that "Ahmadinejad is not Mussadeq and oil is not a threat to international peace and security as a nuclear weapon is."