First, it does so by pressuring Israel to prevent it from directing any military strike against Iranian nuclear sites, which could inflame the whole region and turn the U.S.’s plans and calculations upside down. This is why U.S. civilian and military envoys are flocking to the Hebrew state, bearing warnings of the consequences of undertaking such an adventure, the latest being Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) of the U.S. Army, Michael Mullen, who stressed the fact that any military strike against Iran would only delay its nuclear program, but would not put an end to it.

Mullen also said that Israel had “not provided guarantees” to Washington that it would not resort to the military option, which is of course necessary to remind the Iranians that it is the United States that is preventing a strike from being directed against them.

As for threatening with further economic sanctions and gathering diplomatic support for them, it falls within the framework of peaceful pressures, through which the Americans hope to convince Iran to head towards a settlement of the nuclear issue, and for which they are sending regional envoys to Tehran, such as Turkey’s Foreign Minister, who convey American ideas for the formulation of common grounds for a solution.

Second, the U.S. does so through an understanding in Iraq. There the sharing of influence between the Americans and the Iranians appears clearly, despite arm-wrestling to improve the “share” of each side, where Washington plays the role of defending Iraqi Sunnis and their role in political life while excluding those of them who hold strict stances against Iran, in exchange for Tehran agreeing to replace those Shiites who meet neither Iraqi consensus nor Arab support. Such an understanding could be interpreted as defining a new political map of Iraq under a moderate leadership.

As for the “gifts”, the latest of them seems to have been Abdolmalek Rigi, whom Iran accuses of being responsible for painful bombings, one of them leading to the death of a number of Revolutionary Guard (Pasdaran) leaders in Zahedan some months ago. And although the details of the operation of delivery and reception have not yet been revealed, it was noteworthy that the British welcomed warmly and without reservation the capture of “a terrorist responsible for despicable attacks”, knowing that the protests of Iranians who support the regime before the British embassy in Tehran have been ceaseless, and that Members of Parliament put forth last month the suggestion of severing relations with London.

And until the final version of a comprehensive settlement between the administrations of Obama and Khamenei takes shape, mutual accusations, fiery statements and obstinate stances are ongoing, as they are a necessary element of the agreement’s “toolkit.”

*Published in the London-based AL-HAYAT on Feb. 25, 2010.