4 - Missed Opportunities: From 9/11 to Iraq to the Nuclear Impasse, 2001–2008

Summary

The entire outlook of the Middle East changed following the 9/11 attacks, and US–Iran relations were no different. Iran condemned the attacks, citing its own experiences with terrorism, and the first year of the war in Afghanistan surfaced surprising opportunities for cooperation. But in a pivotal State of the Union address, George W. Bush referred to Iran, along with North Korea and Iraq, as part of an Axis of Evil, supporting terrorism and disrupting the global order. The Iranians were incensed and called off the talks on Afghanistan’s new government. The next few years would see heightened rhetoric from both sides and the election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Despite his inflammatory policies, he apparently was still open to engagement with the US, if Washington would make the first move. Bush showed no signs of doing so, but with the decline in influence of neoconservative advisers Rumsfeld and Cheney, and the rise to Secretary of State of Condoleezza Rice, the administration made a surprising switch. Again, little of actual substance would develop, but it showed that even as fierce public jabs were exchanged, secret channels still survived.