In the Gulf, Defense Secretary Gates has a hard time defending the US line that a nuclear Iran is a nightmare while a nuclear Israel is just fine, reports Rasha Saad UN and Iranian nuclear officials began a new round of talks Monday, this time to probe the source of traces of weapons-grade uranium found at a university in Tehran. Monday's talks follow an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report last month that stated Iran had been generally truthful about its past uranium enrichment activities. The IAEA's mandate obliges it to investigate national nuclear activities and probe all possible nuclear proliferation risks. It is believed that Monday was the first time the university incident was discussed. Meanwhile, Iran has met a key IAEA demand and handed over long-sought blueprints on how to mould uranium metal into the shape of warheads, which Tehran said were obtained from black market nuclear arms dealers. Neither these significant developments in Iran's dealings with the IAEA nor a recent US intelligence report stating that Iran halted atomic weapons development in 2003 stemmed US pressure on the Islamic Republic. This week Washington announced that it is still pushing for a new, third level of sanctions against Iran. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US and its allies were finalising a new UN Security Council resolution "that could then be sent to the council to be voted on sometime in the next several weeks." Despite the continued standoff, Washington's policies towards Iran were challenged at a conference on regional security held in the Bahraini capital, Manama, Friday. While Iran refrained -- at the last minute -- from attending the conference, it was the focus of the event. Gulf countries loudly signalled their opposition to any military option against Iran. "We want the military factor to be eliminated," Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Abdul-Rahman Al-Attiyah told the conference. "What we care for in the GCC is finding solutions that enhance security and stability... and [we] believe in dialogue as a way to solve the crisis," he said. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al-Thani went further, calling on Washington to engage Tehran directly in dialogue to reach a solution. "Direct talks do not mean agreeing [from the start] with the other party," he told delegates, among them US Defense Secretary Robert Gates. In fact, GCC leaders were answering Gates's own speech in which he stressed the danger of Iran's nuclear programme and pointed to Iran as the prime source of chaos in the region. "Everywhere you turn, it is the policy of Iran to foment instability and chaos, no matter the strategic value or cost in the blood of innocents -- Christians, Jews and Muslims alike. We must keep all our options open," Gates told the conference. Gates also reiterated US support for stronger sanctions on Iran, saying the United States and the international community must "continue and intensify economic, financial and diplomatic pressures on Iran" until they suspend uranium enrichment activities and agree to comprehensive site inspections. "Let's continue to work together to take the peaceful but effective measures necessary to bring a long-term change of policies in Tehran," he added. Gates urged Gulf states to shift their focus from bilateral military ties with the United States towards multilateral security cooperation. Specifically, he called for a collective regional air and missile defence system, as well as shared monitoring of waters in the region for terrorism, piracy, drug trafficking and smuggling. Yet Gates did not receive the response he may have hoped for. Several delegates from Gulf countries attending the conference said the US was hypocritical for supporting Israeli nuclear weapons and questioned Washington's refusal to meet with Iran to discuss the Islamic state's nuclear activities. "Not considering Israel a threat to security in the region is considered a biased policy that is based on a double standard," said Al-Attiyah. Bahraini Minister of Labour Majeed Al-Alawi also asked Gates whether he thought the "Zionist [Israeli] nuclear weapon" a threat to the region. Gates paused, and answered tersely: "No, I do not." Asked if that was a double standard in light of Washington's pressure on Iran, Gates again said "No," and described Tel Aviv as more responsible than Tehran. "I think Israel is not training terrorists to subvert its neighbours. It has not shipped weapons into a place like Iraq to kill thousands of innocent civilians covertly," said Gates. "So I think that there are significant differences in terms of both the history and behaviour of the Iranian and Israeli governments." Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad countered Gates's comparison of Iran and Israel. "We can't really compare Iran with Israel. Iran is our neighbour, and we shouldn't really look at it as an enemy," he said. "Israel for 50 years has taken land, is expelling the Palestinians, and interferes under the guise of security, blaming the other party," Hamad added. Iraq's National Security Adviser Mouaffak Al-Rubaie, while criticising Saudi Arabia and Iran for "settling scores" on Iraqi soil, called on Gulf states to form a regional security pact that would include Iran. "It is extremely important to have regional reconciliation rather than having this heightened sectarian tension," he told conference delegates. Tehran's sudden decision Friday morning not to attend the meeting caught most participants unawares, however, and prompted much speculation amongst diplomats and in the media. Statements by the official IRNA news agency that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki backed out "due to his hectic and intense schedule" sounded unconvincing to many. The Gulf News newspaper speculated that Iran's conspicuous absence from the Manama Dialogue was in reaction to the refusal of conference organisers -- the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) -- to extend an invitation to the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS). The IPIS last December organised in Tehran a conference examining revisionist theories of the Jewish holocaust, attended by participants from 30 countries, including several from Europe. Some attendees argued that the Jewish holocaust was either fabricated or exaggerated. "The Iranian Foreign Ministry had informed the organisers that it wanted the IPIS to attend the summit, but the IISS refused, prompting the Foreign Ministry to cancel its anticipated participation. The Iranians made it clear that they would take part in the conference only if IPIS was also invited," an undisclosed source told the Gulf News. Meanwhile, Iran succeeded this week in finalising a long-awaited multi-billion-dollar oil contract with China for the development of the Yadavaran oilfield in southwest Iran. The deal is one of the biggest foreign contracts ever signed by Iran, which holds the world's second-largest oil and gas reserves. The signing of the contract was regarded as another challenge to US attempts to pressure European and Asian countries into cutting their business ties with Iran as a means of leverage amid the nuclear standoff.
