Indonesia’s US-Iran peace broker bid faces long odds: ‘we are nothing to them’

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has wasted no time positioning himself as a diplomatic broker in the Middle East, offering to mediate between Iran and the United States even as the bombs are still falling.The problem, critics say, is that Indonesia stopped being neutral the moment it joined US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace”.Jakarta’s offer came on Saturday, hours after US and Israeli strikes began hitting Iran. Prabowo was willing to travel to Tehran in person if all parties agreed to talks, Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.It expressed “deep regret” for the attacks and urged restraint, dialogue and diplomacy. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sugiono called his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi to press the case, saying Indonesia stood ready to play “a constructive role in advancing peace” and prevent “the unnecessary loss of innocent lives”.Iran’s response was courteous but non-committal. Mohammad Boroujerdi, Tehran’s ambassador to Jakarta, said on Monday that he “appreciates” the good intentions – before noting, with diplomatic precision, that no concrete steps had yet been taken: “we still do not know whether such steps will have an impact or influence or not”.Meanwhile, the death toll continues to climb. US and Israeli strikes had killed at least 555 people across Iran as of Monday, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.