IRAN: Warming up to once-despised Jimmy Carter

The Iranian government has officially and regularly decried former President Jimmy Carter since the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. 

But it looks like some within official Iranian circles are willing to let bygones be bygones, especially now that Carter has defied the Bush administration by meeting with the Palestinian militant group and Iranian ally, Hamas.

Iran's animosity toward Carter stretches back decades. He was, after all, the U.S. commander in chief who toasted deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi months before a popular 1978 uprising against his rule, briefly offered the monarch sanctuary in America and dispatched an ill-fated rescue team to free American diplomats and embassy employees being held hostage in Iran.

But politics makes for strange bedfellows.

Last week, Carter met with Hamas officials in the West Bank and Egypt before sitting down with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in the Syrian capital.

Today, Carter told a news conference in Jerusalem that Hamas is willing to recognize Israel so long as a peace settlement is approved in a Palestinian referendum. Some Hamas officials later backed away, saying they might not accept a referendum, and Carter, a 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner has heaped scorn on Hamas for its continued rocketing of southern Israel.

Nevertheless, the man who was burned in effigy by Iranian demonstrators in Tehran three decades ago has become a respectable statesman in the eyes of the Iranian media.

"Former President Carter puts blames on the Zionist regime for refusing talks with Hamas," said a report on state-controlled Iranian television.

A report published by the official Islamic Republic News Agency under the headline "Carter criticizes US for excluding Hamas from peace talks" notes that the man from Plains, Ga., "criticized the US for lobbying to exclude Hamas from the Middle East peace talks."

The hard-right English-language daily Tehran Times published excerpts of an opinion piece by Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar originally published in the Washington Post:

Now, finally, we have the welcome tonic of Carter saying what any independent, uncorrupted thinker should conclude: that no 'peace plan,' 'road map' or 'legacy' can succeed unless we are sitting at the negotiating table and without any preconditions.

— Borzou Daragahi in Beirut and Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran

Photo: The Shah of Iran, from left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the Empress of Iran, and the president's wife, Rosalynn Carter, during a state dinner at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 15, 1977. Credit: National Archives website

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Comments

[DJ Wootan]

Carter should stay at home and take care of his peanuts here in GA...he has been way out of line with his Middle East negotiations which will net nothing.

[Titus]

If Reagan negotiated a peace deal, it would no doubt cost the US taxpayer 5 trillion in extra debt, and expand CIA cocaine import operations. What a loser that lame President was. Just let me block the horror of the Reagan years out please.

[Carl Turner]

A right winger writes: "There are a lot of people out here to need to read more history... Regan was at his best. He went on to win the presidency and then lean on Iran enough to get our American citizens being held hostige there back, after almost a year in captivity."

Every time a right winger tells people to "read history" you know that a real howler will follow. Reagan "leaning on" Iran in order to get hostages released is called the "Iran/Contra affair." The Reagan Admin. cut a deal with the ayatollahs in Iran to hold on to the American hostages until after the US election, at which point the US secretly sold weapons to Iran. Here's a link to a condensed version of events. The full history of the criminals on the US side who did the deal is much more compelling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_Affair

[Tadit Kundu]

Hello Americans,

while you all are busy discussing world history from the American perspective, I would like to remind you of the Oriental perspective. From Iran;s point of view, Iran hates and distrusts USA for the following reasons:-
1) 1953- USA overthrew Iranian democracy and installed the Shah
2) USA was overtly supporting Saddam Hussien in Iran-Iraq war, while Saddam Hussien was using all chemical weapons
3) When Iraq was losing, USA deployed its navy in the Persian gulf...
4) 1988 (or perhaps 1989), US-navy shot down an Iranian civillian airlines (which was on international waters) killing 290 people onboard. George Bush (Sr) refused to apologise.
5) USA is covertly assisting Mujahideen-e-Khalq, an Iranian terrorist organisation which is opposed to the present Govt. of Iran

[Ken]

Condi...? Are you listening?

[Pblaze]

"Regan"

Anybody who sticks up for a prez and can't spell his name must be a complete moron.

Oops, i forgot--that's most of the readership here

[anabasis]

Truth is the Daughter of Time-bashing Bush won't solve anything -Hamas and Iran will Use anyone to get their aims and they do not include peace with the Sunni Arabs,Israel or any one else,including the new Dem President.In the next eight years will Obama solve these problems by saying hope and change a million times to everyone in the world?If Carter is appointed Czar of the New American Policy will there be peace?Americans need to grow up there is no Santa Claus,there is no peace in the Middle East that we have the stomach for, Rep or Dem.Look at gas prices now,if we run do we get oil at all?It's the Economy stupid,blame aliens if you wish ,curse past policy depending on the motto of the U.S.-It ain't my Fault-The American peasants want to raise our children,eat ,not freeze,laugh,love,we can accept a lower life style,but not a crushing depression while Idiots argue like talking heads on the tube.No

[Robert McIntyre]

There are a lot of people out here to need to read more history. LOL Do any of you remember the Carter/Regan debates before Regan was elected. It was a little one sided. Regan was at his best. He went on to win the presidency and then lean on Iran enough to get our American citizens being held hostige there back, after almost a year in captivity. Do you remember Regan working to help bring down the Berlin wall? Yeah...lots of political emotion out there. Carter means well there is no doubt. It was a great peace deal between the isrealies and the Egyptians. But Carter was never ever the man Regan was...even when accounting for some of Regan's noted faults. Yeah...easy on the political bluster...lol.

[v racer]

So Hamas will recognize Israel? But, will not even negotiate for the release of one prisoner. What a load of liberal BS. They will sit down with anyone, but stand up to no one.

[JOHN RUSSO]

Praise to President Carter!
This man stands at the same level as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul and the greatest American heroes. Those who think he should have not spoken with Hamas should go to page 250 of the 9/11 commission’s report to find out why we were attacked on 9/11. A few thousand individuals have the power to control all we can say and all we can see. Our great Nation is being attacked and controlled from within. President Nixon said once on Larry King that he would have never tied the destiny of America to that of Israel. That is why he was impeached.
We have been denying freedom and justice to a whole Nation and we have been paying for the consequences and bring hunger and terror to the rest of the world. While our children have no insurance, our sick veterans go untreated, we spend 2 billion dollars a week on a war that was brought forth by Zionism. How comes nobody goes after the instigators of this war, the so-called neocons. They all are exponents of AIPAC. Wolfowitz was raised in Israel, Pearle still shuttling presidential hopefuls to Herzelya. Charlie Rose had Pearle on his show making a casual conversation about Iraq. Sometimes before Greenspan, in the same show, was not challenged when he said we went to Iraq for oil. With mounting debit, while our citizens live in tenths in our parks and are on food stamps we send 6 billions dollars a year to Israel!

[JR]

The "Don't talk to your enemies" mantra is just about as effective as "Abstinence only", and as useful as "Intelligent design". By trying to create and enforce a storybook legacy of "goodness", the republicons have unwittingly made the US a mockery of the globe. The Carter bashing is just a childish display of temper from those who are pouting because they didn't get their way. The extremists in all camps should be put on a space station together, to let those of us mature enough to follow the rules we teach our kindergartners work out the problems of the world like responsible, cognizant adults.

[Hugo]

yeah because Regan saved our nation? Dwight D. Eisenhower's policy in Iran is what ignited the hostage crisis. The Algiers Accords was the event that was made during Carter's presidency and was completed one day after Regan sworn in. Carter not only did not have any say on the ILLEGAL, UNJUST and Vietnam War, but he also pardoned Vietnam War's draft-evaders.

[Capt Bat Guano]

In answer to your questions; Carter pays for his own travel throught the Carter Center. He does not claim to be a negotiator or diplomat for the US govt. and the govt. does not claim this either. As a US citizen, he is as free to travel as you or I. He just gets to meet with interesting people.
Unfortunately, the US govt has so tied the hands of its "appointed officials", that nothing seems to be getting done regarding the Arab Israel peace process. Too many preconditions and empty seats at the table.
How do you propose that Bush should "keep Carter at home"? Would you like to see him arrested? His passport confiscated? Under what law?
I'm not sure what kind of country you would like to live in, but it doesn't seem to resemble the US the founding fathers envisioned. Pakistan and Burma like to put people who work for peace into prisons and house arrest. Maybe you think we should act more like them??
You need to take a pill and relax. If you did a little research, you would learn that Carter has done a great deal for global peace and building up America's goodwill in the world. We should be cheering his efforts so more young Americans don't have to die in the middle east.

[hanny mcfarlan]

hey,i voted for ralph nader.......
in 2000, 2003, and 2004

[Dr. M. Franklin]

Hey Hanny: You need a history lesson, it was President Nixon who withdrew the troops from Vietnam, dahhhh. And anyone who gets their "facts" from Rush must be truly ignorant. Rarely does a right or left wing zealot provide unbiased "facts". Americans need to start thinking for themselves. In Rush's own words "...I am merely entertainment... From his book: The Way Things Ought To Be

BTW, why should the Bush administration stop anyone from being a foreign diplomat, it is clear the Bush administration has none other than an Ambassador to Iraq which has been changed several times until Bush got a "yes" man. This administration's foreign policy makes me sad to be an American. And no that does not mean I want to leave the US it just means I am waiting for the next president, whomever it may be. Any one of the three current candidates will do 1000% better the Bushes blind mice team. I think my 7 year old daughter could do a better job then the current administration in foreign policy.

God help the next president who has to clean up the mess we are in today.

[JR]

What a disappionting super-power we are, that we behave like toddlers afraid of the dark, and when somebody says, "Look, the dark isn't as bad as you think," we throw rocks at them and defecate on their monther's grave. I am not a supporter of terror, however, like patriotism, I think the term has become overextended to include anyone who isn't willing to take our bullying, which is exactly what our patriots did when they founded this country. I see dispicable acts in both camps, and think that Carter is the only bright thing to happen there since Bush took office. Thank God for Jimmy Carter.

[Clifton Hensley]

People like Hanny here (who ironically can't spell the word "genius") are the reason why we have an idiot president and are a painful reminder of the shortcomings of our public education system. They get all their so-called facts from right-wing media outlets like Rush Limbaugh and FOX News and take their word as gospel. They are evidently unwilling (or unable) to think for themselves, and unfortunately for the rest of us, as we live in what can sometimes be called a democracy, they are as numerous as they are stupid. Thank you for the past eight years, Hanny.

[hanny mcfarlan]

WHY DOESN'T ANYONE GIB CARTER OVER HIS VIETNAM FICCASCO ?
That is why today, the tibetans and the chineses are duking it out in the streets of bejink.
Carter would not import drugs like reagan to help aid our allies.
We had to give them money, because congress had spent it all on vietnam and the star wars civil defence team...
HAS EVERYONE FORGOTTEN THAT SO SOON

[John Markson]

So let me get this strait....Bush policy of alienating these groups like hamas has led to the expansion and more widespread support of them throughout the muslim world. Jimmy Carter simply wants to talk with these people who ARE WINNING ELECTIONS and becoming a larger and more powerful political movement in the muslim world. Dont you think it wise to perhaps speek with people who obviously have some widespread support. Yes they are terrorist but we need to at least talk and mediate the conflict if we would like to ever understand it. There is justifiable "beef" between the muslims and palestinians on both sides. I dont see how a policy of talking to both sides to better mediate that conflict is a bad thing. If your upset with Jimmy Carter then you probably support the bully politics of the ast 8 years thats only led to a explosion in the amount of people willing to blow themselves up and kill Americans and Jews. Talking to people who view the world through a differnent lens does not mean you endorse their ideas. It only means you wish to encourage your ideals, hopefully positive ones on them. A coward would recognize a conflict that effects their own security and not have the stomach to discuss the issues with both sides.

[luvwknd]

It is quite obvious the Dems want peace through dialog & the Repuklicans want to bomb other countries to force them to do what that administration wants them to do!

What the he11 is wrong with you Americans? Right now is the time to get the Repuklicans out of office and don't buy the crap that McSame is selling - he will be NO different then GWB so pull your Repuklican heads out of your Repuklican butts and vote Democratic!

[Matt]

He;s not an official US representative. He's going as a private citizen and representative of the Carter Foundation (Or something like that). The Bush administration has made clear it wants nothing to do with him.

Regardless, I agree with him that not talking to people is almost never productive. Talking to people isn't guaranteed to produce result, but it's much more likely to than excluding them.

[sean K]

Hanny:

And you're the 'ginius' who listens to Rush Limbaugh when he tells you that Jimmy Carter has anything to do with Vietnam. The War was over when he got elected, 'ginius'. You're IQ is clearly about as low as the 'flore'.

[hanny mcfarlan]

Like robert M said"Ronald Reagan isn't around anymore to ball him out"
like Carter listened the last time Mr Reagan balled him out for being a warramogger and to weak to push the russians out of the olympics in 1977.

[Sean K]

Bill Conner and Robert McIntyer:

1. Bush has no authority to curtail the activities of former presidents. To even suggest he does shows a stunning ignorance of politics thats precludes any legitimate contribution to the discussion from you.

2. Ronald Reagan was a criminal who allowed drugs to be smuggled into our country while hypocritically incarcerating our population for possession of substances he conspired to illegally bring here. He was the second worst president in modern history (yes, worse than NIxon)... I'm sure you know who the first is. I can't imagine what you are talking about when you say he 'bailed out' jimmy carter.

[Gorgon '08]

If given the choice of welcoming a despised, well-meaning incompetent like Carter, versus embarrassing George Bush... Iran and/or Hamas will leap at the opportunity to stick it to Bush.

Carter is desperate erase his legacy of ineffectual leadership, especially as it relates to Iran... one of his biggest failures.

Iran would love to discredit the Republicans in an election year that could help hand them Iraq after all these years.

It's a marriage made in Islamic and Christian heaven.

[Matt]

Hey Hanny, learn to spell, type, read and think. Not necessarily in that order.

You have to assume that neither the US nor Isreal is serious about peace since apparently no one has asked Hamas about conditions for recognizing Isreal. Now, interesting that since Carter's original comments were published Hamas is backing off...

[Maurice K.Schlaberg]

I have never agreed on anything he ever did or said with the exception of his stance on solar panels.In my opinion,he should stay home,keep his mouth shut,and stay out of sight.M.S.

[hanny mcfarlan]

Yeah, he's the ginius who got america mired down in the war in vietnam, and without cause.
I;m glad that Reegan wiped the flore with him.
Gerald Ford wanted out of vietnam, but Carter said yes,yes to all the bobing, for 7 more years.
what a joke.
Rush limbaugh and all the other conservaties rock.
they know the real score, that;s where I get all of my FACTS.

[Bill Conner]

Why is Jimmy Carter going anywhere in the world as an ambassador or negoiator for hte US? Who authorizes and pays for his trips and what exactly is his mission supposed to be? The US government has appointed officials to take care of foreign affairs. The US does not need some left-over who meddles while trying to stay in the lime light. President Bush should sharply curtail Carter's activities, make it clar that Carter is not an ambassador, and keep him at home before Carter makes some crackpot deal that the US will have to back up!

[Robert McIntyre]

Jimmy Carter better be careful. Sadly, Ronald Regan isn't around to bail him out anymore.