Gareth Porter

For months, the attention of the U.S. news media, pundits, and elected officials has been riveted on the aims of ultraconservative Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. President George W. Bush in particular has invoked Ahmadinejad’s alleged drive for nuclear weapons and rhetoric about Israel to justify U.S. isolation and pressure on the regime. But the almost … Continue reading “Khamenei in Control
and Ready to ‘Haggle’”

Iran offered in 2003 to accept peace with Israel and cut off material assistance to Palestinian armed groups and to pressure them to halt terrorist attacks within Israel’s 1967 borders, according to the secret Iranian proposal to the United States. The two-page proposal for a broad Iran-U.S. agreement covering all the issues separating the two … Continue reading “Iran Proposal to US Offered Peace With Israel”

In yet another apparent episode of the inability of the White House to steer a consistent diplomatic course in the Middle East, a new report says that the George W. Bush administration ordered U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in March to postpone indefinitely the talks with Iran on Iraq for which Khalilzad had previously gotten White … Continue reading “Reversing Policy, U.S. ‘Froze’ Iran Talks in March”

As the George W. Bush administration pushes for a showdown over Iran’s nuclear program in the UN Security Council, it has presented the issue as a matter of global security – an Iranian nuclear threat in defiance of the international community. But the history of the conflict and the private strategic thinking of both sides … Continue reading “Iran Nuclear Conflict Is About US Dominance”

The United States has backed away from high-level peace negotiations with Sunni insurgent groups after meeting with them regularly over several weeks in January and February, according to an insurgent leader. Evidence of wavering by the George W. Bush administration over the negotiations came from the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, which reported Tuesday that Sunni … Continue reading “Bush’s Wavering Halts Insurgent Peace Talks”

Iranian leaders have been signaling to Washington since late 2005 that Iran wanted direct negotiations with the United States on Tehran’s nuclear program and other outstanding issues between the two countries. The campaign began with private talks between Iranian officials and foreign visitors in the country, and has included public suggestions by members of the … Continue reading “Iran Pushes for Talks With US on Nukes, Security”

Top Iraq War Commander Reveals Rift with Rumsfeld on Insurgents Gareth Porter A military assessment of the Iraqi insurgency in late 2004 concluded that it had the active support of millions of Sunnis who rejected the legitimacy of a U.S. installed government, according to Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who led all coalition forces in … Continue reading “Top Iraq War Commander Reveals Rift with Rumsfeld on Insurgents”

Foreign policy circles in Washington, including some figures considered close to the George W. Bush administration, have begun talking privately and in off-the-record meetings about the need to give both Iran and Iraq’s Arab neighbors key roles in peace negotiations, according to Middle East experts. This new support for Iranian-Arab participation in negotiations on Iraq … Continue reading “US Wonks Warming to Iran, Arab Roles in Peace Talks”

Last week’s attack by U.S.-led Iraqi paramilitary forces on a building that Shi’ite leaders claim was a mosque may have marked the beginning of a new stage of U.S. policy in which Iraqi forces are used to carry out military operations against Shi’ite militia forces – especially those loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr. However, such a … Continue reading “Is US Planning More Attacks on Shi’ite Militias?”

The George W. Bush administration failed to enter into negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program in May 2003 because neoconservative zealots who advocated destabilization and regime change were able to block any serious diplomatic engagement with Tehran, according to former administration officials. The same neoconservative veto power also prevented the administration from adopting any … Continue reading “Neocons Blocked 2003 Nuclear Talks With Iran”