How To Deal With Iran
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Now that President Bush has opened the lines of communication with Tehran via a collection of Iraqi insurgents and collaborators tied to the Persian state, it may be time for a primer on how to deal with Iran.
Ever bargain for a carpet in the bazaars of Tehran or Shiraz? Those of us who have view it as a wonderful insight into Iranians’ negotiating style.
Bazaar rule no. 1: When negotiating directly, what you see and hear has nothing to do with what you end up with.
Spin artists represented the Washington visit this week by the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, as a clever maneuver to counterbalance the power of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s political and military movement in Iraq.
Messrs. Hakim and Sadr are anti-American Shiite clergymen who command a bloc of 30 parliamentarians each and militias trained and equipped by Iran. Just like the Shiite prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, they have been sabotaging the American project in Iraq.
Bazaar rule no. 2: When engaging in talks, it is wise to examine the pedigree of the players. Mr. Hakim’s father, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, founded SCIRI in Iran in 1980. Following the American invasion of 2003, the ayatollah moved back to Iraq with his troops and was promptly assassinated and succeeded by his son.
Both father and son were schooled in the Iranian city of Qom, whose theological seminaries have educated the Shiite clergy ruling Iran. Qom’s seminaries are a fraternity where every Shiite religious figure of stature in the Muslim world must spend a few years being trained not only in theology but in politics, speech, and the Greek classics.
As it happens, the Lebanese leader of the Iranian-sponsored terrorist group Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has been to Qom. So has Mr. Sadr.
These gents may have competing egos, but when push comes to shove they are on the same page.
Herein lies bazaar rule no. 3: When one merchant senses resistance in a client, he lets him move on to a fellow merchant in the bazaar. After the sale, they split the profit.
These Mideast concoctions are confusing, but wait for the big picture.
Mr. Maliki, who gave Mr. Bush an ulcer in Jordan last week, leads the Dawa Party, whose ranks are filled with graduates of — where else — the Qom seminaries. And all the Iraqi Shiite parties bow to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, an Iranian who spent many years teaching in — you guessed it — Qom.
Be they Iraqi, Iranian, Lebanese, Pakistani, or Saudi, these are brothers in faith and arms who believe the Shiite moment has arrived.
They may talk about a new bargain at the White House, but in Qom they vowed to pursue the reversal of 13 centuries of humiliation by Sunnis and others.
From Tehran to Dhahran, a single vision is weaving a wall-to-wall carpet. The rest is the din of the bazaar, with cups of tea facilitating the deal.