Al-Rubaie said the U.S. needed to take bolder steps to elicit Iranian support over both its nuclear activities and role in Iraq.
"The United States, until they seriously engage with Iran ... the long-term regional security will be in doubt," said al-Rubaie on the final day of a regional security summit in the Bahraini capital of Manama.
MANAMA, Bahrain: Iraq's national security adviser said the United States must engage Iran if its wants security across the region in a sharp rebuke to Washington just a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told skeptical Gulf Arab countries about the need to pressure Tehran.
Iraq's national security adviser said the United States must engage Iran if its wants security across the region in a sharp rebuke to Washington just a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told skeptical Gulf Arab countries about the need to pressure Tehran.
The conflict highlighted the difficult line the U.S. is trying to walk with Iran, isolating the country over its nuclear program, while pursuing limited engagement to enlist its support in Iraq.
The danger is that Iran could further increase instability in neighboring Iraq if it feels the U.S. is pressuring it over the nuclear issue — potentially damaging the regional security the U.S. is trying to preserve by thwarting Tehran's atomic ambitions.
Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie's call for greater U.S. interaction with Iran came as Tehran announced that it was studying an Iraqi proposal to hold a fourth round of ambassador-level talks with the U.S. over security in Iraq.
Al-Rubaie said the U.S. needed to take bolder steps to elicit Iranian support over both its nuclear activities and role in Iraq.
"The United States, until they seriously engage with Iran ... the long-term regional security will be in doubt," said al-Rubaie on the final day of a regional security summit in the Bahraini capital of Manama.
The U.S. has refused to hold direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program until the country suspends uranium enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a weapon. Iran has refused, saying its program is peaceful and not a precursor to weapons development, as claimed by the U.S. and many of its allies.
Al-Rubaie's push for greater U.S. engagement with Iran was an uncomfortable reminder that Washington's greatest enemy in the Mideast is also the country most closely tied to the predominantly Shiite government in Iraq — the nation in the region where America has the most at stake.
"It is feasible for the government of Iraq to have on one side the strategic ally, the United States of America, and on the other side, we have a good relationship with Iran," said al-Rubaie, a Shiite. "I believe they are not mutually exclusive."
Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni, agreed with al-Rubaie's assessment that the U.S. needed to step up engagement with Iran for the sake of Mideast security.
"I do believe Iran is a major power in the Middle East and holds a key for stability and peace for the whole region," al-Hashemi told reporters at the conference. "This is why I'm saying that the nuclear issue should be sorted out in round-table negotiations."
Al-Hashemi said that continued U.S. moves to isolate Iran over its nuclear program "would make life more difficult for the Iraqis."
The U.S. has accused Iran of supplying weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq, a charge Tehran has denied. Both U.S. and Iraqi officials have said attacks linked to these weapons have declined recently, but analysts say it is unclear if the development is related to Iranian cooperation or improved security in Iraq.
Al-Rubaie warned the U.S. that a strategy of aligning its Sunni Gulf allies, led by Saudi Arabia, against Iran would only further exacerbate tensions in the Middle East.
"We cannot continue playing on Tehran and co. versus Riyadh and co. Otherwise we will continue suffering in this decision," al-Rubaie told delegates from the Gulf and other major powers at the conference, which was sponsored by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Yet that is precisely what the U.S. defense secretary advocated to the conference on Saturday when he dismissed greater engagement with Iran and asked Washington's Gulf allies "to work together to take the necessary ... measures to bring a long-term change of policies in Tehran."
Washington's attempt to push its hardline policy against Iran became more difficult recently with the release of a new U.S. intelligence report saying Iran suspended nuclear weapons development under international pressure in 2003. The report was a dramatic turnaround from a previous one that said Iran restarted the program in 2005.
Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert with conference organizer IISS, said the U.S. should take note how international pressure can influence Iran and substitute its hardline rhetoric with higher level diplomatic engagement.
"Simply allowing Iraqi Ambassador Ryan Crocker to interact with low-level Iranian diplomats in Baghdad is not enough," said Dodge.
"The United States should redouble its interaction and the sophistication of it, not simply bang the table and wave a big stick."
