Apparently unknown to Senator Obama, the United States communicates with Iran through the Swiss, who, for some reason, have the reputation of being neutral country: A disinterested third party. But they are anything but neutral when it comes to money. And Jews.
Recently, Switzerland has struck a deal with Iran that seriously jeopardizes their cover of neutrality.
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey traveled to Iran in mid-March to sign a deal between the Swiss energy trading company EGL and state-owned National Iranian Gas Export Company that is worth $28 billion to $42 billion.
Photos of the March 17 signing ceremony with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked a furor in Switzerland, where the nationalist People's Party has campaigned behind an image of a smiling Calmy-Rey in a white head scarf seated below a picture of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
"It became clear immediately that the visit by the Swiss foreign minister was a propagandistic triumph for the mullahs," WJC President Ronald Lauder, the billionaire cosmetics magnate, wrote in a statement.
Senator Obama, of course, would not have a problem delivering the mullahs a "propagandistic triumph" by being the first US President to make a State Visit since the revolution.
But the present Administration is not so impressed
The U.S. Embassy, in a posting to its Web site, questioned whether neutral Switzerland's position as representative of American interests in Iran and Cuba could be affected...
Washington, which already has objected to the deal as a violation of the spirit of U.N. sanctions against Iran, has made a formal request to see the contract, the U.S. Embassy said.
Spokeswoman Lisbeth Keefe said Washington originally asked to see the contract last year, long before the signing. The Swiss have yet to produce the contract, the embassy said.
The embassy reiterated that the U.S. had told the Swiss "that major new oil and gas deals with Iran send precisely the wrong message" to Tehran when it is defying U.N. Security Council resolutions over its uranium enrichment program.
The Iranian government says it only wants to produce electricity for peaceful uses, rejecting U.S. and Israeli accusations that it wants to develop nuclear weapons.
Other European countries aren't impressed either.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she was "skeptical" about countries forming energy and trading ties with Iran which could end up making them count too much on Tehran.
"I am skeptical about too much dependency vis-a-vis Iran," she told journalists after a meeting with Swiss President Pascal Couchepin, though she stressed she was not referring to Switzerland in particular.Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, said in the US this month that he wanted to broaden sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme "to include investment in liquefied natural gas".
But the fact that Switzerland would be involved with Iran shouldn't come as a surprise to many who know history. And that history is one of anti-antisemitism and greed.
Most recently, Switzerland's largest bank was sued by victims of terror
American victims of bombings and rocket attacks in Israel have sued Switzerland's biggest bank, UBS, for more than $500 million (SFr522 million).
The lawsuit, filed in New York, accuses the bank of helping fund the organisations behind the attacks through dealings with Iran.
It seeks damages for more than 50 United States citizens who were injured in Israel between 1997 and 2006 or for relatives of people killed.
US government reports say Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups financed by Iran since 1996 carried out the attacks.
The lawsuit alleges that UBS broke 1996 US laws prohibiting individuals and companies from engaging with state sponsors of terrorism. The legislation was designed to impede Iranian access to foreign capital.
"UBS knew full well that the cash dollars it was providing to a state-sponsor of terrorism such as Iran would be used to cause and facilitate terrorist attacks by Iranian-sponsored terrorist organizations," the lawsuit states.
"These organisations used Iranian money to commit their attacks," said the plaintiffs' lawyer, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who added that other banks could face legal proceedings if the case against UBS goes ahead.
But is it just a case of greed leading terrorist support? In 1997
Disgust over rising Swiss anti- Semitism has cast a shadow over the much-publicized release of names on dormant bank accounts from the Nazi era.
"Keep your money," Israel Singer, the secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, told the Swiss in a pique of sarcasm during a news conference Wednesday. "The lists published today are not important if the 18,000-member Jewish minority of this country should suffer from anti-Semitism."
In 1998
Anti-Semitism has spread in Switzerland in a reaction to the recent scrutiny of the country's wartime actions, a Government commission said today.
A yearlong study found that inhibitions against the open expression of racist views had been swept away during the debate over Switzerland's responsibility to compensate Holocaust victims for assets lost during World War II. The controversy broadened into an examination of Switzerland's wartime role.
In 2000
A survey in Switzerland suggests that anti-semitism remains deeply rooted in the country.
It indicates that 16% of Swiss people are fundamentally anti-semitic, while 60% have anti-semitic sympathies.
With this kind of history, how can the US possibly know that its messages are being accurately portrayed in Tehran? How do we know that Switzerland has not been intentionally working with Iran in achieving its nuclear and antisemitic goals?
I'm just sayin'