From The Asia Times
By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

The United States and Iran have reached a critical crossroads at which the path of potential conciliation rooted in their shared “common concerns”, to paraphrase President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s latest letter to Americans, intersects with the path of even greater hostility, which could turn Iraq and the rest of the Middle Eastern landscape into a theater of their power rivalry.

Unfortunately, the latter alternative appears to be gaining, and unless remedial action is taken by both sides, in Tehran and Washington, to arrest the growing momentum toward the “clash of titans”, it may not be long before we observe a new realignment of forces in Iraq and beyond, with both sides jockeying for influence and support among the Sunni insurgents in Iraq and beyond.

Within Iraq, the government’s tailspin toward a complete collapse has been accentuated by Muqtada al-Sadr’s group’s withdrawal of support of the government in response to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s decision to meet with US President George W Bush in Amman, thus casting a heavy cloud of uncertainty over Maliki’s administration. This is illustrated by a leaked memo by US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, questioning Maliki’s “capability”. As a result, the chances are that the Amman summit - postponed from Wednesday to Thursday - may be the last for the embattled premier who cannot appease either his domestic or American critics.

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