Those are the views of K.C. Singh, former Indian ambassador to Tehran, according to a cable sent by the US Embassy in New Delhi on December 15, 2005, and recently published by WikiLeaks and The Hindu, a leading Indian daily.
If Western governments wanted to effectively deal with such an irrational regime and wean the Iranian people from their support to its nuclear program, the US must first understand the “Persian mentality,” Singh advised.
In order to deal with this regime, the US should either peacefully engage with it or apply force, “but not alternate between engagement and threats,” Singh said.
Observing that Iran is “‘propelled by paranoia,’ and that the fear was enhanced by the US presence in Afghanistan and Iraq,” the former ambassador cautioned: “If the Western world applies pressure,” the Iranians “will rally behind President Ahmadi-nejad.”
Such a response, however, would not be a reflection of any popular support for the President as “most of the people disapprove of his fervor for religious influence throughout society and government.” But the “Persian response to threats” would push Iranians to back Ahmadi-nejad in a confrontation with outsiders, Singh said.
Singh was ambassador to Iran from 2003 to the latter part of 2005. The political counselor of the US Embassy in New Delhi made an “introductory call” on Singh immediately after his return from the Tehran assignment. The cable was a report on what Singh told the American diplomat at that meeting.
Singh said Ahmadi-nejad fervently anticipated “the imminent return of the prophesied twelfth Shia imam.” This fervor had made the president “prone to respond to threats by acting as a martyr,” Singh said.
Singh also cited an instance where the entire cabinet “drafted a resolution addressed to the twelfth imam, and dropped it in a well in Qom, where petitions to al-Mahdi are traditionally deposited.”
The US diplomat said he found Singh to be a “breath of fresh air” and his comments on Iran to be “a surprisingly clear window into the flavor of politics in Tehran from a diplomat who has enjoyed good access to Iranian leaders.”