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SPIEGEL Interview with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari

"America Has Taken a Great Step Forward"

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari discusses plans for an international conference on Iraq that will include representatives from both Tehran and Washington.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Minister, of all the possible countries, it is beleaguered Iraq that has managed to bring the United States and Iran to the negotiating table. How did this come about?

Zebari: It wasn't easy. Merely keeping this plan a secret for months was difficult enough. We were able to take advantage of a custom that has been in place for more than three years now, namely Iraq's regular meetings with its neighboring countries. At our last meeting in Tehran, we decided to take the risk of holding the next conference in Baghdad and, in addition to our six neighbors, to invite Egypt, Bahrain, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic States and the Americans. We wanted to secure a commitment from them and hold them to it.

SPIEGEL: And yet tensions between Washington and Tehran have been consistently on the rise since this meeting last fall. The US military detained Iranian citizens in Iraq and increased its presence the Gulf, and Iran threatened with "devastating consequences" in the event of an attack.

Zebari: Yes, but at the same time we had the Baker-Hamilton report on the situation in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, which expressly recommended that Washington enter into talks with Syria and Iran. This was very helpful to us, and it encouraged us to put forward the proposal to arrange a meeting at the ambassadorial and deputy ministerial level.

SPIEGEL: Did the idea find resonance?

Zebari: At first there was opposition from both sides. Iran and Syria were afraid that the whole thing could turn into nothing but a PR event. And the Americans didn't immediately accept the idea, either.

SPIEGEL: What caused them to change their minds?

Zebari: There were two things: our insistence that all that would be discussed at this conference would be the situation in Iraq and the multilateral framework -- the broad regional approach to the conference. Anyone following developments in the Gulf in recent years knows that it is a breakthrough that the conference has come about in the first place. We are really in a win-win situation now.

SPIEGEL: Who was the most difficult to convince?

Zebari: The Iranians were the last ones to stand. But after a week even they found our arguments so convincing that they agreed to send their foreign minister.

SPIEGEL: But the meeting of foreign ministers is not expected to take place until April, likely in Istanbul.

Zebari: We haven't discussed this second meeting in detail yet. We can only invite people to attend that conference once the first meeting has been a success.

SPIEGEL: How do you envision this second conference? Do you see yourself acting as an intermediary between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki?

Zebari: I am already familiar with this type of situation. I sat at a table with the two former foreign ministers, Colin Powell and Kamal Kharrazi, in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt in 2004 -- also on the periphery of a conference on Iraq. We told a lot of jokes at the time.

SPIEGEL: Nevertheless, the situation remains serious in Iraq. What sort of commitment can the conference secure from Tehran to help Iraq move in the direction of stability and peace?

Zebari: Iran has many interests and a lot of influence in Iraq, and it has only intensified its relationships since Iraq's liberation. Our principal concern is that Tehran not support individual groups in Iraq but the Iraqi government -- a Shiite-led government that is friendly to Iran. Whatever we decide at this conference, it is important for the Iranians to know that it will not affect our good bilateral relations.

SPIEGEL: And what do you expect from America?

Zebari: I believe that America has already taken a great step forward by agreeing to participate in this conference. In doing so, it has demonstrated that it is not considering a war against Iran or regime change in Tehran. This makes us all very hopeful.

Interview conducted by Bernhard Zand.