Seeing Eye to Eye

Where there's a will, there's a way -- even in "impossible" situations. That's what the US and Iran have learned after a four-hour meeting of their ambassadors in Iraq on Monday. For a long time it was unclear whether the meeting in Baghdad would happen at all. First US President George W. Bush made demands that Iran was unwilling to fulfill. Then Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei hestitated. But in the end, both sides gave the green light.

After almost thirty years of diplomatic silence, one might have thought the Americans and the Iranians would not have had much to talk about. But the meeting in the Green Zone was primarily concerned with Iraq, specifically the terrible escalation of violence there in recent months.

There were the usual recriminations on both sides, with Tehran blaming the US-led invasion for the violence, and Washington accusing Iran of stirring up trouble. But surprisingly, the two countries discovered that, in essence, they weren't very far apart on the issue. Both want to see a peaceful and secure Iraq that ceases to be a source of instability for its neighbors and the entire Middle East.

It is difficult, of course, for former enemies to admit they see eye to eye, but such an admission would not only be in the best interest of Iraq. It could also lay the groundwork for solving some of the other disputes between America and Iran.

The signs aren't all that bad. Iran suggested setting up a three-party commission with the US and the Iraqi government. This is a good idea, even if the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, deferred any decisions on such a body to Washington. George Bush would be well advised to accept the offer, and Tehran should continue to advance it.

There are still roadblocks. It isn't helpful when Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki demands that Washington openly acknowledge the failure of its campaign in Iraq. And the detention of five Iranians by US forces in Northern Iraq looms as a thorny issue. But despite these problems, Iran and the US should seize the opportunity to make the impossible become a reality.

Middle East expert Peter Philipp is Deutsche Welle's chief correspondent