Republican presidential nominee John McCain and Democratic hopeful Barack Obama clashed over the idea of diplomacy with Iran in their first presidential debate on Friday night.
Although the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees seemed to agree that more sanctions are needed against Iran over its nuclear program, they had what McCain called ’a fundamental difference of opinion’ on talking with Iranian leaders without preconditions, Presstv reported.
During the debate, McCain said engaging in direct talk with the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without preconditions would “legitimize“ his position toward Israel.
“Here is Ahmadinejad, who is ... talking about the extermination of Israel, of wiping Israel off the map, and we’re going to sit down, without precondition, across the table, to legitimize and give (him) a propaganda platform,“ said McCain, maneuvering on the 2005 Ahmadinejad quote, which Iran has repeatedly called a ’mistranslation’.
Obama, however, argued that other than pushing for more sanctions against the country, it is necessary for the US “to engage in tough, direct diplomacy with Ira“’. Obama said the US should not expect to solve every problem before initiating talks.
“This is a major difference that I have with Senator McCain. This notion that by not talking to people we are punishing them has not worked,“ he explained. “(A meeting without pre-conditions) doesn’t mean you invite them over for tea one day. What it means is we don’t do what we’ve been doing, which is to say, until you agree to do exactly what we say, we won’t have direct contacts with you,“ said Obama.
Five former US Secretaries of State- Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher, James Baker and Henry Kissinger- have said that the next American administration should hold direct and unconditional talks with Tehran over its nuclear activities. Obama used remarks made by Kissinger, who is now an advisor to McCain, to back up his argument. In earlier comments, Kissinger had said the United States should negotiate with Tehran “without setting any conditions“.
“I am using the same words that your advisors use,“ said Obama, when McCain accused him of “parsing words“. During the debate, the democratic presidential nominee also said that tough sanctions against Iran could not be achieved without cooperation from Russia and China.

Opportunity for Iran-US Ties
There is a real possibility that the US may open an interest section in Tehran by the end of the term of George Bush in January 2009, ex-US national security advisor Gary Sick said.
“Right now, I would say for the remainder of the Bush administration until next January, there is a real window of opportunity in which they can take a number of steps. For instance, if they did open an interest section in Iran,“ he told IRNA in Berlin in a phone interview.
“I think it’s realistic for instance to open an interest section. And that has implications for everything else. We are going to be actually physically present in Tehran. And that changes a lot. Setting up an interest section in Iran which is technically a small thing that would be a key turning point,“ added Sick.
The head of the Persian Gulf Project 2000 at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs stressed no new president coming to Washington would want to undo the opening of the US interest section in Tehran.
“If that process gets started in the next four months, it would be extremely difficult for any (US) president to reject it. Obama would probably consider this to be a good thing even if Senator McCain does not like it. It’s very hard for me to believe that he would come as president and say we are going to remove our people (diplomats) from Tehran,“ Sick said.
He made clear there had been some “very strong indicators that the Bush administration was in fact interested in making progress“ in its rapprochement with Iran.
“With the (Bush) administration that has very conservative credentials and which is getting ready to leave office, they can in fact do things with a certain degree of credibility that another or new president with another background could not,“ Sick said.
Pointing to the recent speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the UN General Assembly meeting and his interview with
CNN, the aide to former US President Jimmy Carter said it was his impression that Ahmadinejad was “very much interested in official contacts between the two countries but with no conditions involved.“

Political Obstacles
Referring to obstacles about initiating direct US-Iranian talks, Sick pointed to the problems of “domestic politics on both sides.“
“There is a political obstacle that has to be overcome which actually happens to be a very good moment to do that,“ he said.
“Leaders (in Iran and the US) have to be very careful about what they do. My own reading is that both sides are much more nervous than they need to be. The people in Iran and the US are really ready for this to happen but it will take a certain degree of leadership and boldness,“ Sick added.
“If explained properly by the leaders in the US and Iran, it would not be a political liability,“ emphasized the US expert on Iran and the Persian Gulf.
“I think the whole process is about building an agenda and setting up the process in which we would begin serious negotiations which would at least clarify where we are and what could be done .We don’t know the answer to the question until we stated it,“ Sick said.
Asked about how Tehran and Washington could find an agreement on the row over Iran’s nuclear program, Sick replied, “We don’t know because we have not talked to one another about it. Basically we have to get down to the point where Europeans and the US have got to make very practical proposals to Iran.“
He added that a western offer to Iran could include “lifting sanctions, providing greater foreign investments for Iran’s energy sector and opening credit lines for Iran.“
“We have to be able to offer them (Iranians) something in return for their actions. And up to now the US has not really participated in the process. The Europeans have negotiated in good faith. The Iranians have perhaps not taken the European offer serious enough,“ he said.
Sick also pointed out that the US lacked a coherent strategy vis-ˆ-vis Iran over the past 20 years. “I think the US has not had a coherent policy for Iran really the last 20 years or more. It is not just this administration.“
Sick rejected calls for third countries to mediate for direct US-Iranian talks.
“We don’t need somebody in between. We haven’t tried direct talks. We have very good relations with Iran in trying to solve the Afghan problem.“

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Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said that a new UN Security Council resolution against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program would cause ``mistrust’’ and will not contribute to global peace and security.
Six world powers on Friday circulated a new UN Security Council draft resolution that only reaffirms existing UN sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program, Fars News Agency reported.
Foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany (G5+1) facing stiff Russian opposition, failed to secure agreement on new sanctions.
Jalili, who is Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council said that “These measures are not constructive. What they need to do is to gain the trust of the Iranian nation through constructive cooperation and collective commitment.“
He said the draft showed that the G5+1 had failed to come up with a “logical response“ to the Iranian nation “or they have lost internal cohesion as they have acknowledged themselves, and through this action want to show there is actually cohesion“.
“After the Geneva talks we had negotiations with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and representatives of the G5+1 in which they confirmed that Iran follow
a serious, constructive and progressive trend“ in nuclear talks, Jalili said.
He said that the 5+1 could not reach agreement and so has issued the so-called draft resolution only to conceal heir divisions. They want to use the few lines (draft) as a propaganda tool.
“One of foreign minister of the group has said we want to adopt a measure to upset the Iranians, “ said Jalili, adding that this is a bad omen that some powers explicitly say they are against the satisfaction of the Iranian peple nation.
Under strong US pressure, the UN Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran since 2006.
Diplomats said members of the 15-nation Council would consult their governments and a resolution could come to a vote early next week. Previous resolutions included travel bans and asset freezes on Iranian individuals and companies.
In his address to the UN General Assembly Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed to pursue nuclear technology in the face of western bullying and threats.
Iran “will resist the bullies, has defended and will continue to defend its rights,“ he told world leaders.
In a clear reference to Washington and its western allies, Ahmadinejad said: “They oppose other nation’s progress, want to monopolize technology and use the monopolies to impose their will on other nations.“

A Chinese astronaut on Saturday performed the nation’s first-ever spacewalk, the latest milestone in an ambitious program that is increasingly rivaling the United States and Russia in its rapid expansion.
Mission commander Zhai Zhigang floated out of the orbiter module’s hatch in the spacewalk, shown live on state broadcaster CCTV. Tethered to handles attached to the Shenzhou 7 ship’s orbital module’s exterior, Zhai remained outside for about 13 minutes before climbing back inside and closing the hatch behind him, AP reported.
“Shenzhou 7 has left the module, physically feels very good. Greetings to all the people of the nation and all the people of the world,“ Zhai said.
Fellow astronaut Liu Boming also emerged briefly from the capsule to hand Zhai a Chinese flag that he waved for an exterior camera filming the event. The third crew member, Jing Haipeng, monitored the ship from inside the re-entry module.
Top Communist Party officials including President Hu Jintao watched the spacewalk from a Beijing command center, breaking into applause with the successful completion of each stage of the maneuver.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei toured the 16th International Qur’an Exhibition at the Imam Khomeini Prayer Ground in Tehran.