[R-G] US Admiral Keen for Contact with Iran Navy

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0a02eac-31d0-11dd-b77c-0000779fd2ac.html>
US admiral keen for contact with Iran navy

By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington

Published: June 4 2008 03:00 | Last updated: June 4 2008 03:00

The top US naval commander in the Middle East says contacts between
the navies of the US and Iran would be useful once Tehran stopped
sponsoring violence inside Iraq.

Vice-Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, commander of the US Fifth Fleet, made his
comments as Barack Obama and John McCain, the presumptive Democratic
and Republican candidates for president, spar aggressively over
whether Washington should engage with Tehran.

In an interview, Adm Cosgriff told the Financial Times that the US and
Soviet navies had benefited from contacts during the cold war. Asked
whether similar contacts between the US and Iran navies would be
useful, he said: "I think they would."

Robert Gates, the defence secretary, has recently adopted a less rigid
tone on talks with Iran than the White House or Mr McCain.

He recently advocated opening new channels between the countries,
though he added the US should try to gain more leverage before holding
talks with Tehran.

"We are coming up on 30 years' worth of strategy questions with
respect to Iran and in many ways the importance of communication, of a
dialogue, of having a two-way exchange . . . can't be overstated," a
senior military official said.

Sitting in the Pentagon, Adm Cosgriff explained how a 1972 agreement
between the US and USSR helped prevent incidents at sea from
escalating into crises.

The admiral, who has also served as director of the White House
situation room, said negotiations for the agreement had created
long-lasting "confidence-building measures". To stress the point, he
added that his last encounter with a Soviet ship off the coast of Oman
about 20 years ago was "pretty routine".

"The key takeaway is it created an opportunity for the two navies to
talk," said Adm Cosgriff. "That led to other things - visits and those
sorts of things."

Adm Cosgriff has witnessed several dangerous incidents involving US
and Iranian ships in the Gulf. The most serious occurred in January
when a US warship came within 10 seconds of firing on Iranian
Revolutionary Guard speedboats.

"It could have gone the other way," the admiral said. "The message I
would want the Iranians to have taken away is that 20 US sailors have
died at the hands of small-boat attacks [including the 2000 USS Cole
attack], and there is not a captain in the US navy . . . that does not
know that."

One problem, he said, was that while the Iranian navy responded to
radio calls from US ships, the more aggressive Revolutionary Guard did
not. He grappled with the question of whether the Revolutionary Guard
navy was acting under orders, or just like "cowboys".

"Which Iran is acting here? It is mostly opaque to me. My inkling is
some of the things we see are local. [But] I am not absolving
accountability for the centre because they have created the tone or
the environment within which local commanders seem to think that they
can operate this way."

Adm Cosgriff laced his desire to have better naval relations with a
dose of reality, saying that the US could not have a "normal
relationship" with Iran while it shipped lethal weapons to groups
attacking US forces in Iraq.

"That is perhaps a bridge too far. So they have to resolve some of
those issues . . . before I would be suggesting doing anything like
doing formal talks."

Anthony Zinni, a retired marine general and former head of central
command, agreed on the need for a mechanism to prevent "unintended
confrontations".

He suggested forming a Gulf naval co-ordination centre, which would
include Arab navies and allow bridge-to-bridge communications. The US
and Iranian navies could also co-ordinate search and rescue missions
for missing sailors and fishermen. "These could be a starting basis,
with more co-operation along the lines of Admiral Cosgriff's caveat
leading to greater connections," General Zinni said.

Adm Cosgriff dismissed reports that the US will attack Iran this year
as "urban legend". "I know . . people have this unsettled feeling . .
So every little thing now fits into this conspiracy. Like 'there [are]
two carriers, prelude to war'. So you say, 'just watch, watch what
happens, literally two ships passing in the night in the Gulf. Case
closed.' But people are inclined to think something."

-- 
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>