Friday, January 26, 2007, Muharam 6, 1428 A.H.
Editor-in-Chief: Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman Amr Moussa warns US against Iran
attack DAVOS, Switzerland: There is a 50/50 chance the United
States will attack Iran and any such strike would risk spreading sectarian
violence through the Middle East, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said
on Wednesday.
Its a 50/50 proposition, and we hope that it wont happen. Attacking Iran
would be counterproductive, Moussa told Reuters at the World Economic Forum.
US President George W Bush, in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, spoke
of an escalating danger from Shia extremists, many taking direction from
Iran. Bush called them just as dangerous to the United States as al-Qaeda. Iran
and the United States are also at loggerheads over a nuclear programme that
Washington says is to make bombs.
Tehran denies this. The United States favors diplomacy to resolve the standoff,
but has not ruled out strikes if that fails. Asked about Moussas comments, US
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack reiterated that all options remained
on the table but he said the United States was working in a cooperative
fashion with its allies in the Gulf over Iran.
The president has always said You never take any option off the table, but I
think were being quite transparent in the ways that were seeking to deal with
the various threats posed by Iran, really to the region, McCormack told
reporters in Washington.
Moussa did not go into details of how he assessed the likelihood of a US
attack. Asked about Bushs remark on Shia extremists, Moussa said, I would
agree that any kind of extremism, in thoughts or in policies or harsh
conservatives, any kind are very dangerous.
But he stopped short of blaming Iran. It would not be appropriate to say
whether Iran is responsible for destabilizing Iraq through support of
extremists, he said.
Moussa said the United States needs to move from use of military force towards
dialogue, both to resolve the violence in Iraq and to reduce US-Iranian
tensions. He added that he favoured proposals for talks with Iran and Syria.
If there were to be a war, other genies will get out of the bottle. You cannot
imagine the impact on the Gulf countries, on the Mediterranean, Moussa said.
His concern over a looming US-Iran confrontation was shared by business leaders
and political commentators at an opening session on the Middle East at the
Forum, an annual gathering of the worlds rich and powerful. Some said it would
risk sectarian divisions spilling over to Lebanon, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. It
would also undermine three years of strong regional economic growth seen as
important for stabilizing the region. One panelist said a serious danger would
be any crash in the crude oil price, engineered by Saudi Arabia, to squeeze
Irans finances as a way to bring the country to its knees.
As a major crude producer, Iran relies heavily on oil revenues. These have
soared since crude prices roughly doubled in the past three years, almost
reaching $80 a barrel last summer before retreating to the mid $50s currently.
Moussa also said that Bushs plan to build up troops in Iraq and pursue a
military solution will not resolve sectarian clashes that are ripping the
country apart, he said.
He proposed a diplomatic solution, advocating a United Nations Security
Council resolution that Iraq should not be partitioned, an agreement on
reconciliation and amendment to its constitution.
Moussa also threw his support behind renewal of long-suspended
Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, saying time is running out to make real
progress. The US, European Union, United Nations, and Russia, known as the
Quartet, are due to hold talks in February.
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ABDUL WAHID OSMAN BELAL
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