Montazeri Takes Aim at the Israeli Lobby

In a tidbit lost in the build-up to 13 Aban, Grand Ayotollah Montazeri -- the most respected Marja in Iran and a fierce critic of the regime -- took direct aim in an interview not at Israel or United States, but interestingly, the Israeli lobby of Washington, D.C.:

If national interest calls for the relations with America, tensions and distrust must not be aggravated by empty slogans. It is obvious that Israel and its lobby in America have been and will be completely against the Iranian-American relationship and find their interests in the continuation of the current crisis between America and Iran. It is unfortunate that statesmen of the country do not pay attention to this fact.

Frankly, the sophistication in Montazeri's understanding of U.S. policy formation is startling, for it is not often that the average American -- let alone an 87-year old cleric from Iran -- truly understands the enormous influence that lobbying groups such as AIPAC have on the creation of legislation.

Montazeri was likely referring to Obama's recent annual renewal of sanctions against Iran and the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act, a bill whose aim is to cripple Iran’s petroleum industry by placing trade, consulting, shipping and sales restrictions on activities related to the country's oil and gas industry. The House Foreign Affairs Committee recently recommended the bill be sent to the floor for a vote.

This is not the first time that the Israeli lobby has been influential in torpedoing the prospect of improved U.S.-Iran ties. In 1996, during Bill Clinton's presidency, Congress passed (and Clinton signed) the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act. The sanctions (and congressional lobbying) came as the United States and Iran, Clinton and Rafsanjani, were about to strike a deal allowing oil giant Conoco to explore and drill one of Iran's vast oil fields. (The deal had Khamenei's blessing.)

Just as Iran was extending this olive branch to the United States, AIPAC's lobbying arm ratcheted up congressional (and popular) support for punitive measures against Iran. This effectively killed the Conoco deal, and any possibility of détente with it. With the situation in Iran as fluid as it is right now -- both domestically and with respect to the nuclear issue -- this latest attempt of the Israeli lobby to sabotage resumed Iran-U.S. ties should not be overlooked, for it will only make President Obama's policy of engagement that much more difficult to succeed.