Iran, US almost speaking terms again 20 years after
rupture
TEHRAN, April 6 (AFP) - Although Iran has been taking one step forward
and another back in its dance around dialogue with the United States, the
two appear to be drawing closer 20 years after they broke off diplomatic
ties.
The two sides ended their diplomatic relationship April 7, 1980, following
the seizure of the US embassy and its staff in Tehran in the wake of the
revolution that toppled the shah, and the United States was derided as
the Great Satan.
Although travellers arriving in Tehran airport are still welcomed with
anti-US posters, hostile slogans are rare in the streets of the capital
as Iranian society becomes ever more Americanised.
Since the pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami was elected in 1997,
the United States has been putting out feelers in hopes of a rapprochement.
And Khatami, who has limited power over foreign affairs, has responded
in a limited fashion.
But with pro-reform candidates winning a landslide in February's parliamentary
elections, Washington took a major step toward Iran: an apology for past
US sins and the elimination of some sanctions but not the major one --
the embargo on Iranian oil.
On March 17, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright noted the role
the Central Intelligence Agency played in toppling prime minister Mohammad
Mossadegh in 1953, acknowledged repression under the US-backed regime of
the shah and lamented Washington had been "regrettably shortsighted"
in supporting Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
A European diplomat in Tehran told AFP that both sides were ripe for
dialogue. "There is a desire on both sides to have done with it, because
the absence of a dialogue is somewhat strange, almost artificial since
relations have improved with the European Union."
"The apology on Iraq is the most important," he added.
Iran gave a cautious welcome to Albright's speech, but then insisted
that if its US suitor really wanted to win back its affections it must
go further in its apology and lift more important sanctions, such as the
oil embargo.
But conservatives in the Iranian regime, who have been less than cordial
toward the United States, have criticized her speech.
Powerful former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said March 31 without
elaborating that her speech was "the worst hostility and could be
harmful to those it supports."
He also slammed Albright for saying that Iranian institutions controlled
by the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were not democratic.
"They absolutely must apologize to show their good will,"
Rafsanjani insisted.
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, who said in January he was ready to
negotiate with on an equal footing with Washington, hailed the United States'
moves.
But Wednesday he turned around and said Iran might sue the United States.
"Mrs Albright's admissions constitute an acceptance of responsibility,
and we are considering legal action," because Washington must "pay
reparations for its actions," Kharazi said.
On the eve of the anniversary Iranian newspapers were divided.
The Iran Daily newspaper said Thursday: "American statesmen, by
apologizing for their contribution to the 1953 coup d'etat, which toppled
the nationalist Mohammad Mossadegh's government and restored monarchy in
Iran, have taken a major step forward for rapprochement."
But the conservative Tehran Times, pulling in the opposition direction,
said: "Contrary to goodwill gestures, US pressures against Iran mount,"
such as pressure to block nuclear cooperation with Iran.
Nevertheless, in the past two days, two pieces of news have emerged
from Iran that will be music to Washington's ears.
Tuesday conservative Hassan Rowhani, Secretary of Iran's highest security
body, the Supreme Security Council, declared that while Iran does not favor
the Middle East peace process, it has done nothing to thwart it.
And on Wednesday, the official IRNA news agency said Iran had seized
a tanker carrying contraband Iraqi oil, in violation of the UN oil embargo
on Iraq of which Washington is a chief backer.
This announcement followed an appeal by Iranian Oil Minister Bijan
Namdar Zangeneh to Washington Tuesday to lift its oil embargo against his
country.
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