Joseph Biden has shown a softness toward Iran

The arguments that Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has provided to explain his choice of his candidate for the vice presidency were mainly that Senator Joe Biden of Delaware has a great deal of experience in foreign policy and is knowledgeable on the subject. Thus, Obama has tried to fend off the criticism that he is inexperienced in foreign affairs, and that his Republican rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, will deal better with the legacy of foreign policy failures from the administration of President George W. Bush.

Biden is indeed a veteran senator, one very familiar with and knowledgeable about foreign policy issues. He is also considered to be in the very middle of the mainstream of traditional support for Israel, though in the distant past, in 1981, he supported a tougher stance toward Israel. However, his positions regarding Iran, whose acquisition of nuclear weaponry tops Israel's list of security concerns, cannot be encouraging to the policy makers in Jerusalem. This is especially so in the context of the danger that in 2009, when Biden could well be vice president, Iran is liable to reach or even to go beyond the "technological threshold" - i.e., to achieve the capability that will enable it to develop nuclear weapons.

Michael Rubin, a lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School, published an article in The Washington Post on Tuesday in which he surveys Biden's statements and positions concerning Iran. From his survey it emerges that for more than a decade now Biden's attitude toward the Islamic Republic has been soft and conciliatory. It is no wonder that the senator and soon to be Democratic candidate for the vice presidency is the favorite senior American politician of the regime in Tehran. This was manifested in the praise that was heaped on him by one of the most important clerics on an official television channel. This happened in the context of Biden's opposition to President Bush's policy in Iraq, the criticism he expressed of Israel's moves in Lebanon in the last war and most particularly his statements against any American or Israeli attempt to attack Iran to halt its nuclear program and prevent it from achieving nuclear weapons.

Ayatollah Mohammed Kashani, who is close to the spiritual leader Ali Khamenei, praised Biden for his opposition to the military option and said, in a sermon in Tehran in December 2007, "The senator said rightly that Israel was not able to suppress Hezbollah in Lebanon, so how can the United States deal face to face with a nation of 70 million?" As is the custom, the cleric's words were greeted by his audience with cries of "Death to America."

One of few

Three months earlier Biden had been one of the few senators who opposed the declaring of the Revolutionary Guards, the military arm, by means of which the ayatollahs have succeed in holding the reins of government for 30 years, a terror organization. The proposal to designate the Revolutionary Guards a terror organization was the climax of a process that had coalesced gradually in the administration. At the start of 2007, the various intelligence branches in the United States assessed that the Revolutionary Guard is behind the wave of terror attacks on American soldiers in Iraq that exacted huge price in terms of hundreds of casualties. The National Intelligence Estimate of August, 2007 states explicitly that "Iran has been intensifying aspects of its lethal support for select groups of Iraqi Shia militants" and notes the number of attacks carried out by means of laying explosive charges (similar to those Hezbollah used against Israel Defense Forces soldiers in southern Lebanon) "has risen dramatically."

Despite their clear opposition to Bush's policy, most of the senators from the Democratic Party realized that the intelligence estimate is so assertive and the data so well-founded and reliable that they could not ignore it and could not allow their loathing for the administration and the president to bias their judgment. Therefore, they joined their Republican colleagues and supported the proposal to declare the Revolutionary Guard a terror organization and thus try to harm its financial capability. This must be made clear: The Revolutionary Guard is not just a military force but, just as importantly, also an economic empire that makes it the largest and wealthiest concern in the country.

After the vote Biden explained that he had opposed the proposal because "I don't trust this administration."

Thanks to his position, Biden won praise from Press TV, which broadcasts in English and is considered the major propaganda arm of the Islamic government for shaping positive public opinion beyond the borders of Iran.

Biden's moderate attitude toward Iran did not start this past year or with the George W. Bush's arrival in the White House eight years ago. Ten years ago Biden was already recommending to the foreign minister of the Czech Republic that he prohibit (American-funded) propaganda broadcasts against Iran from the territory of his country and explained this would encourage "dialogue" with the clerics and improve relations with them.

In his article Michael Rubin writes: "Distrust of the U.S. president is the nature of politics, but skepticism about foreign dictators and their Brown Shirts is the backbone of judgment."

It could be that Biden, an experienced and canny politician, will change his approach and suddenly take a tougher line on Iran. If the Obama-Biden team is elected, the combination of the new president's inexperience in foreign policy and his vice president's positions and record do not auger well for Israeli's foreign and security policy, which is trying to persuade the U.S. administration that a tough policy toward Iran must be pursued - increasing the sanctions on Iran and, if necessary, as a last resort, attacking its nuclear installations.