29 October 2009
United States Pursuing Comprehensive Peace in Middle East Region
Washington — The issues, opportunities and challenges that the United States faces in the Middle East are among the most consequential for its security and interests, says U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman.
“This administration is vigorously pursuing a comprehensive peace in the region, which we believe is not only in the interests of the parties to the conflict, but in America’s and in the world’s interests,” Feltman testified October 28. “The administration recognized from day one that working to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict is key to fostering stability, to addressing the security needs of our allies, and to promoting U.S. interests in the Middle East, South Asia and the broader Muslim world from Morocco all the way to Indonesia.”
“Achieving a comprehensive peace will be challenging,” Feltman added.
Feltman, who is the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, testified on current U.S. policies and relations in the Middle East to a Foreign Affairs subcommittee of the House of Representatives.
Progress toward peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict is being made, Feltman told the legislators, and it requires a patient and steady diplomacy. However, resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict will not automatically resolve other challenges in the region, he said.
Regarding Iran, Feltman said the Obama administration is implementing a strategy of principled engagement. The October 1 meeting in Geneva between the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany, a grouping collectively known as the P5+1, with Iranian officials was a constructive first step, but it now must be followed by constructive action and tangible steps, he said.
The six nations met with Iranian officials in Geneva in an effort to convince the Iranian regime to abandon plans to develop a nuclear weapons program. Iran has tentatively agreed to ship its low-grade uranium to Russia for final refinement before it would be sent back for use in a research nuclear reactor. The aim is to prevent Iran from using highly enriched uranium for bomb making while supporting efforts for civil use of the research reactor for generating electricity.
“We look to Iran to respond quickly and positively to efforts by the P5+1 and the [International Atomic Energy Agency] to make progress on the commitments made on October 1 and to build confidence in negotiation,” Feltman said.
Congress has been looking at ways to impose further economic sanctions on Iran to convince the regime to accept incentives for abandoning nuclear weapons ambitions. Separately on October 28, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted out a bill to the full House of Representatives that would impose sanctions on a broad array of companies involved in providing Iran with refined gasoline if negotiations fail to resolve the standoff with the Iranian regime over the nuclear program. The measure, if enacted, could raise the price of gasoline at the pump and could cripple Iran’s economy.
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee was expected to pass a similar measure October 29. While Iran has enormous oil reserves and exports unrefined oil, it imports about 40 percent of its refined gasoline because of a lack of refining capacity.
LOOKING ACROSS THE REGION
Feltman said the United States remains committed to Iraq as it faces national parliamentary elections. At the same time, the United States also will honor its agreement with the Iraqi government to withdraw its combat forces by August 2010 and all remaining U.S. forces by the end of 2011, he added.
The commitment to Lebanese sovereignty and independence remains firm and will not be compromised by engagement elsewhere in the region, Feltman added. “Mindful of Lebanon’s delicate internal situation, we also recognize that there can be no lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict reached at Lebanon’s expense,” he said.
“We continue to support the efforts of Prime Minister-designate (Saad) Hariri to form a government on the basis of Lebanon’s legitimate elections held last June,” Feltman added. Hariri has been working to create a coalition government, but he has been delayed by opposition from Hezbollah, a designated terrorist group.
“The Lebanese people have waited too long for their government to return to the work of ensuring security, economic development and political dialogue for all Lebanese citizens,” Feltman said in his prepared testimony. “We remain extremely troubled about Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon, especially its maintenance of a vast arsenal of increasingly sophisticated weaponry.”
Feltman said President Obama has also directed “sustained, principled dialogue” with Syria, but the Syrian regime must understand that the ability of the United States to engage with it depends on what level of cooperation it shows in areas of direct concern to the United States, including “respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty and control of foreign fighters seeking to enter Iraq.”
The text of Feltman’s prepared testimony (PDF, 40KB) is available at the House Foreign Affairs Committee Web page.
