Discuss strategies adopted by the President to improve U.S. relations with Iran - Essay Example

Obama’s Negotiations with Iran In the contemporary modern world, the international community has advocated for diplomacy rather than military confrontations. With the effects of the two World Wars and the stand off between the US and the then Soviet Union in what has been referred to as the Cuban Missile Crisis, disarmament has become the focus for the maintenance of world peace. The Cuban Missile Crisis made the nations of great power to resolve to control nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons manufacturing has since been banned and nuclear technology can only be employed for energy reasons.

Nuclear weapons have been banned in wars and only those countries that had nuclear weapons by the time of the ban in the 1960s have been allowed to keep them. These are five in number. Further, these five countries have been urged to reduce their missile heads in a wave of reducing risks of nuclear attacks. Although manufacturing of nuclear weapons goes against international treaties thus illegal, Iran has been accused of having ambitions of creating nuclear weapons. The Obama administration has been very vocal in their effort to ensure Iran does not engage in such activities.

President Obama has offered to negotiate directly with Iran in an effort to improve the US relation with the Arab countries. He visited Cairo, Egypt in 2009 and expressed his willingness to work together with countries with similar visions as the US in maintaining peace. He recognized both the Israel and Palestine states and stressed the need for these nations to co-exist together. Iran’s president, Ahmedinejad has been vocal in the opposition of the creation of the Israel nation citing that Israel should be wiped off the world map.

The stern and provocative comments have always jeopardized negotiation talks between the US and Iran as Israel wants to be part of the negotiations with both Israel and Iran having hard-line stands. In a negotiation meeting in 2009 held in Geneva, involving Iran and six global powers, President Obama was very critical to point out after the meeting that Iran must not use negotiations as delay tactics for it to further its nuclear ambitions. In the meeting, Iran pledged to let UN inspectors to inspect its suspected enrichment programs in return for Iran to be allowed to pursue peaceful nuclear research.

Although the US and Iran have engaged in other talks like discussing the war in Afghanistan, the nuclear saga continues to be the main area of focus (Wolf, 2009). During the held negotiations, various diplomatic negotiation rules have been broken. Hard line stands are not supposed to be brought to the negotiation table. The US insists Iran must stop its nuclear ambitions while Iran asserts that it cannot forfeit its nuclear ambitions as these are for peace in creating a reliable energy source in a world where hydro electricity cannot be relied upon.

The stiff, stubborn and hard lined positions have made there to be a stand off between the two countries and thus the negotiations have failed (Sokolski & Jones, 2010). The US has resorted to threats and bullying, urging other countries especially of the European Union to impose economic sanctions on Iran if the country does not stop its enrichment projects or restricts UN inspectors from investigating and reporting on the matter. The Obama administration has stressed that military invasion on Iran cannot be ruled out.

Obama has gone ahead to organize nuclear summits and blocking Iran from attending. Obama’s foreign policies and leadership skills have since been put under scrutiny as he has not delivered on making the world a safer place (Goldman&Chen, 2009).Reference ListGoldman, J., and Chen, E. (2009). Obama Says Time Running Out for Iran in Negotiations. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=apkmWa8ihIrMSokolski, H., and Jones, G.(2010). Obama has run out of time to negotiate with Iran.

Retrieved fromhttp://www.tnr.com/article/79691/bombshell-iran-nuclear-bomb-uranium-negotiations-obamaWolf, R. (2009). Obama: Talks with Iran ‘No substitute for action’. Retrieved fromhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-10-01-iran-talks_N.htm