Albright: Iran should not be in isolation forever
WASHINGTON, January 22 (Itar-Tass) - US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright believes that such a country as Iran should not be in isolation
forever. She said this in a speech to the Centre for National Policy on
Thursday, motivating this view by Iran's size, importance and geographic
position.
Albright confirmed that the United States had shown much interest in
the news that Mohammad Khatami had been elected Iranian president. Washington
analysts arrived at the conclusion that Khatami had been able to gain the
support of broad sections of the public in the election struggle. US strategists
believe that there was promise in the fact that Khatami had support among
women and young people.
Albright acknowledged that this prompted her to respond to the Iranian
leader's initiative expressed in a CNN interview in January 1998, when
Khatami said that Iran is ready for a dialogue with the United States,
"a dialogue between cilivisations and cultures". Somewhat later
the US secretaty of state delivered a speech that, she said now, largely
mirrored the Iranian president's remarks.
By all indications, Washington's hopes for this indirect exchange of
messages have not been justified. Developments clearly showed, Albright
said, that Khatami is now living through difficult times as regards politics
and that a confrontation of internal factions and factors is now on in
Iran.
Albright confirmed that the United States is prepared for a dialogue
with Iran, sanctioned and recognised, in whose framework both governments
could raise problems evoking their concern. Without saying whether this
readiness is reciprocated by Teheran, Albright noted that the United States
so far encourages the possibility of individual and group exchanges between
people of the two countries.
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