US Pressures on Iran’s Eastern Neighbours for Reducing Ties with Tehran

By: Kayhan Int’l 

    

To our east the US administration of the thuggish Donald Trump recently sent two of its top officials to three countries to cajole and coerce their governments into accepting whatever Washington wants from them in the uneven relationships it maintains with Islamabad, New Delhi and Kabul.

Gangster Mike Pompeo who handles the Secretary of State’s portfolio visited Pakistan to gauge the strength and weakness of newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose talk of "independent policies” and "fair” rather than "one-sided relations with the US”, drew the wrath of Washington with abrupt cutting of the 300 million dollar aid for the fight against so-called terrorism.

The tone of the talks left much to be desired, with the visitor arrogantly ruling out any resumption of the largesse and the hosts simply saying the visit helped reset ties between the two countries "hopefully with positive results”.

It is clear that negotiations did not go well, and it now largely depends on the decision-makers in Islamabad how decisively they deal with such crucial issues as US drone terrorism in Pakistan’s border areas with US-occupied Afghanistan, and the expectations from Imran Khan’s elections of implementing the long-delayed gas pipeline project with Iran.

Of course, whose aid has strings attached, is averse to both issues – no stopping of its drone terrorism on Pakistani soil and no question of gas imports from Iran.

Pompeo then hopped across the border to India, where he was joined by his colleague who heads the US War Department Pentagon, ‘Mad Dog’ James Mattis, for what was labelled as the "2+2 Dialogue” between the foreign and defence ministries of the two countries. 

And since India is viewed as the "jewel” in the US policy to try to contain China, the talks, although not exactly on equal terms given the awe in which the Americans are held, led to the signing of the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) which calls for setting up hotlines between the defence and foreign ministries of India and the US.

The Americans who are never known to keep their promise, as usual tried to hoodwink their Indian counterparts with vague commitments if New Delhi desists from buying the advanced S-400 missile defence system from Russia and stops importing crude oil from the Islamic Republic of Iran, or for that matter withdraws from the strategic Chabahar port project in Iran for access to the lucrative markets of Afghanistan and the landlocked Central Asian countries.

India, which was promised the building of four nuclear plants by the then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for casting its negative vote against Iran’s peaceful nuclear project a decade ago, a promise that never materialized, is advised to proceed with caution regarding the hollow and rotten carrots it is being offered this time by Pompeo and Mattis if it reduces oil purchase from Iran.

So far India has not given any open commitments to the US except for assurances to gradually reduce crude imports from Iran, but it should know that Iran is a permanent neighbour, while the US, whose power may rapidly decline in the near future as was the case with British imperialism, is neither a neighbour nor a well-wisher.

Washington only views New Delhi as something to be exploited and will go out of its way with empty promises and cosmetic measures to appease Indian officials if they turn their backs towards Iran.

Mattis then appeared in a stealth manner in Kabul and it was clear from the talks he held with Afghan officials, the US has no intention of either respecting that country’s independence nor curtailing terrorism. As a matter of fact, the Pentagon is planning to increase its support for Daesh and other Takfiri elements, both for keeping Afghanistan in perpetual turmoil and if possible threatening Iran with cross-border terrorist acts.
To sum up, regional countries, instead of allowing outsider US to meddle in their affairs, should build strong and durable ties amongst themselves, in order to be safe from the neo-colonialist designs of the Americans.