The Obama administration officially dropped the regime change option from its policies towards Iran clearing the way for engagement and realistic approaches in dealing with the Islamic Republic. Washington, nearly two months after President Barack Obama Nowruz (Iranian new year) video message, which recognized the Iranian regime and spoke "directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran", gave this week a more explicit signal in that direction. A US official told Al-Hayat that the Obama administration's policy towards Iran "is not (seeking) regime change", a phrase that marks a stark departure from previous administrations especially that of George Bush which branded Iran in the "axis of evil" mantra (Iraq, Iran, North Korea) and kept regime change as a rhetorical tool to try to isolate Tehran and pressure the leadership there to change its behavior. The Obama administration strategy, however, and as the official who spoke on condition of anonymity points out, is based on "principled, direct diplomacy" aims at addressing "those policies of the Iranian government that we and the international community deem destabilizing to the region and beyond". Among the policies are "Iran's continued defiance of its international obligations on its nuclear program and its support for terrorism." This US policy shift was triggered initially by Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry remarks on Wednesday during his committee's hearing on Iran. Kerry announced in a written statement that regime change "is not the current policy of this new administration, and it is important for Iran to understand that". He added "just as we abandon calls for regime change in Tehran and recognize the legitimate Iranian role in the region, Iran's leaders need to moderate their behavior". Patrick Clawson, deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a longtime expert on Iran, points out that the leadership in Tehran seems to "put lot of emphasis on tone", and adds that "the Iranians were offended by the axis of evil phrase evoked by (former President) Bush". Clawson, however, points out to a "perception problem" between Tehran and Washington as a major obstacle in communicating and building confidence. He cautions that even with the Obama administration dropping the regime change option, the Iranian regime might "still perceive things differently." The expert brings up the case of the jailed American journalist Roxana Saberi, and how her story is being interpreted by people in the regime as "a cultural invasion plot to overthrow Islamic republic". Clawson adds that the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei "built his vision around the cultural invasion threat", and explains that "what the US views as people to people contact is sometimes interpreted as regime change activity in Tehran." Engaging the regime and building confidence measures are the keys to filling the perception loopholes as Richard Haass president of the Council on Foreign Relations puts it in his article "Regime Change and its Limits" in Foreign Affairs magazine. The author calls for ''containment'' policy similar to Cold War era in dealing with Tehran. He deems regime change as "highly unlikely to have the desired effect soon enough", and talks about a more realistic policy that focuses on ''second, subordinate goal'' or ''regime evolution.'' A strategy that ''tends to be indirect and gradual and involving the use of foreign policy tools other than military force.'' Haass defines this governance style as a "foreign policy that chooses to integrate, not isolate, despotic regimes can be the Trojan horse that moderates their behavior in the short run and their nature in the long run.'' Al-Hayat 08-05-2009
