All roads lead to Tehran

Obeyd-e Zakani, the great Iranian poet and satirist, tells a pungent anecdote:

Harun asked Bohlul, "Who is the most dear to you?" He replied, "The one who feeds me well." Harun said, "I will feed you well. Then you will be my friend." Bohlul said, "You cannot have friendship on credit."

Moral of the story is that economic transactions do not necessarily equate to good relations.

In April of this year, after Switzerland signed a gas deal with Ahmadinejad, the Guardian reported that Israel had been bypassing the sanctions and boycotts of the Islamic Republic that it so vehemently proclaims, by buying higher grade Iranian crude oil via Rotterdam in Germany.

Hypocrisy aside, is there anything really wrong with purchasing something you really need from someone you really hate? After all, the USSR spent most of the Cold War (until they were stopped by Reagan’s NSDD-32) purchasing high technology from their arch enemy, the US.

Or, is it that in matters of material relationships, your enemy’s enemy is really your friend? The US Treasury Department is claiming that Venezuela is providing financial assistance to Hezbollah. It’s difficult to see what the two entities have in common apart from their affiliations with the Islamic Republic.

With this reasoning, it’s no surprise that the infamous Mr. Khan, the arms dealer of all arms dealers, is in bed with Iran, the pariah of all pariah states du jour. Pakistan-Iranian relations go back to 1994/1995 when a Sri Lankan businessman under the name of Mr. Tahir got in touch with Mr. Khan, who asked him to send two containers of used centrifuge units from Pakistan to Iran via Dubai.

Yet, when the Swiss government seized and then shredded thousands of documents from the home of Urs Tinner, an engineer and member of Mr. Khan’s nuclear smuggling ring, allegedly containing detailed blueprints of mini nuclear warheads, it seemed as though their connection to Iran was barely circumstantial.

It’s like the little boy who cried “Iran!”, except that the story could unfortunately end with the villagers ganging up on a wolf that was only dreaming of sheep.

Perhaps what Obeyd-e Zakani was trying to tell the world of his people is that Iranians have no reservations against trading with or getting what they need, be it from Mr. Khan or Israeli energy companies. Yet, a long lasting friendship with and reliance on a nuclear smuggling ring is unlikely. After all, would Iran really leave the success of its chief foreign policy strategy and status in the world, in the hands of a few rogue nuclear engineers?