Rohani To Court Russian, Chinese Support At SCO Summit

Iran's new president might seem to be taking a humble role on the world stage by debuting at a summit where Tehran only has observer status.

But by attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting on September 13 in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, Hassan Rohani has an opportunity to directly advance his most urgent foreign-policy priority.

That is to build international support for his declared intention to resume "serious" talks with the P5+1 -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) plus Germany -- in trying to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Rohani, a former nuclear negotiator, says he wants to free Iran from economic sanctions by restoring the trust of the world powers in its nuclear program. So far he has offered few specifics, saying only that he wants to conduct "win-win" negotiations while not giving up "one bit" of Iran's nuclear rights.

Now the SCO summit offers him an opportunity to outline his plans privately to the leaders of the two world powers most likely to give him a sympathetic hearing. Both Russia and China, which comprise the SCO along with four Central Asian states, have important economic ties with Iran, so the regional forum could hardly be a better place to seek their support.

"The Iranians very much want the nuclear talks to be resumed as soon as possible," says Scott Lucas, an Iranian-affairs expert at Britain's Birmingham University. "Rohani is fighting a battle against other hard-liners in the [Iranian] regime in that he not only wants the talks to resume but he would like to really get a genuine negotiation with the 5+1 powers, especially the U.S. and European powers, rather than have a showdown at [future] talks."

Domestic Resistance

Gaining Moscow and Beijing's support could help Rohani convince hard-liners at home -- as well as Western powers -- that he is able to settle the Iranian nuclear crisis. He recently took a major step in Tehran toward acquiring more authority to do so by moving Iran's negotiating effort out of an office which reports directly to Iran's supreme leader and into the Foreign Ministry, which reports to the presidency instead.

But Lucas says Rohani still faces domestic resistance, particularly from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which is fighting a propaganda battle against him in the media. Rohani has angered hard-liners by implying their uncompromising approach in past negotiations is responsible for Iran's suffering under sanctions. But he has to proceed carefully to assure that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has consistently favored a hard-line approach, does not intervene and block him.

Rohani's visit to Bishkek comes as the P5+1 have not met with Iran since April, when talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan ended with both sides too far apart to agree on when to meet again. Five months later a resumption date has yet to be set.

RFE/RL