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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

............. QUESTION: On the subject of terrorism in Saudi Arabia, could you tell us about the attempts by the United States to get Iranian support and help in uncovering who blew up Khobar Towers?

MR. RUBIN: Let me say in that regard, I think it should be understood that our objective here with Iran to have a dialogue is not have a dialogue for dialogue's sake; it's to have a dialogue so that we can engage in a process by which Iranian policies of concern would change, including our concern about Iranian support for terrorist organizations and those who are enemies of the peace process.

We have made clear that the policies changing is the objective. We have not received in our dialogue through - let me rewind that tape. We have had contacts, diplomatic contact, messages, to Iran. There is no secret about that. We don't have the kind of direct dialogue that we have been seeking in order to change those policies of concern.

We have not received from Iran, the government of Iran, the kind of responses that we have been hoping for on a wide range of issues, including on the cooperation we seek in investigating acts of terrorism. That is unfortunate and, generally speaking, the Iranian Government's response to our efforts in that area and also our efforts to try to make it easier for visas to be provided to Iranian Americans or Iranians who want to come to America, we've sought visits that would facilitate that process that many people in Iran want, which is to have an ability to come to the United States.

So on those two issues, cooperation on terrorism and making it easier for visas to be provided for Iranians visiting the United States, the Iranian Government's response has tended to be hide-bound and unimaginative.

So that is the state of play. We still believe that it is in our interest to have a dialogue in which our concerns, primarily terrorism and active opposition to the Middle East peace process can be pursued, but it's a fundamental misunderstanding if there is an impression that we're seeking a dialogue for dialogue's sake.

QUESTION: Did Secretary Indyk hand over a message from President Clinton to a third party which was then sent on to Iran?

MR. RUBIN: It has not been my practice to get into the specifics of any diplomatic contact. I'm trying to deal with the policy issues at play here in as forward-leaning a manner as I can about the two substantive issues - cooperation in the Khobar investigation and the question of visits for facilitating visas for Iranian Americans - and I'm not going to comment, and have not before, on what specific message is sent through what specific method.

QUESTION: Could you just remind us how old actually all this stuff is that you just told us and perhaps remind the rest of the world that this stuff was actually reported by apparently all but one news organization several weeks ago?

MR. RUBIN: I'll leave the press commentary to the Columbia Journalism Review.

QUESTION: Would you recommend daily attendance at briefings, though, as a way to get the news at the time it's committed?

MR. RUBIN: Actually, that's an interesting point, and for all those who might not be here but occasionally have the chance if possible to read what is said here in the briefing, there is a sense of the people who are here in the briefing that others aren't here in the briefing. I certainly would share the view that the more attendance there is in the briefing, the more lively the dialogue, the more incisive the opportunity for exchanges and, as you can see, I welcome as full a room as possible.

QUESTION: Just to go back to Iran for a moment, it seems that you've often described the potential US relationship with Iran in sort of addressing the negatives - support for terrorism, opposition to the Middle East peace process - and I wonder if you have any thought about what value, what positive value, the US might have in relations with Iran?

MR. RUBIN: We believe Iran is an important country. It is located in a very important area. Our two peoples have a long and friendly history prior to the most recent developments in the late '70s and throughout the '80s, and we believe that Iran is located in a part of the world that's important to us.

We believe that the people of Iran would benefit from increasing interaction with the people of the United States. We believe the people of the United States would benefit from the interaction of the long and proud culture of Persia and Iran, and there is much to be gained on both sides, but we do have problems. Those problems are real. Some of them have even increased recently, and I've spoken to that.

So pending a decision by the government of Iran to move to address those issues in a direct dialogue, we believe it's appropriate to facilitate and promote a dialogue of the peoples of the United States and Iran in an analogous way to that proposed by President Khatami of a dialogue of civilizations. We welcome that. We support that. We want that to go forward. We think it brings great benefit to both of our peoples.

We think a relationship that could overcome major problems if we could get Iran to stop supporting the opponents of the Middle East peace process, we think that it would make the Middle East a much more stable place, and that would be good for everybody. We think that if we could make progress on stopping Iran's support for those groups that engage in terrorist activities, that would make the world a safer place, and that would be very important.

Beyond that, the potential for a more normal relationship was put out there and put forward by Secretary Albright in a speech in New York - I think it was a year and a half ago - but it's very hard to discuss the fruits of that normal relationship at a time when we can't even get Iran to see the wisdom in talking about the problems that we think exist.

QUESTION: Can you just comment on - you've just laid out the concerns about Iran and then the question mark about the sanctions in Iraq - how that might lead to a sense of urgency in terms of final settlement in the Middle East talks?

MR. RUBIN: With respect to Iran, the issue is our concern about stepped-up support for those who would use terrorism to thwart the Middle East peace process, and we believe we're at a crucial moment in the future of the Middle East that will affect profoundly the prospect for a stable and economically successful and peaceful Middle East for all the Arabs and Israelis who live there; and that we know that this is an extraordinarily difficult time, and support for terrorism to oppose that peace process is profoundly troubling to us and makes it that much harder to overcome the already high, high obstacles to a peace agreement.

QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to this delegation of Iranian clerics who withdrew from the seminar after they said they had been maltreated by immigration officials?

MR. RUBIN: My understanding is that there was a group of Iranians arriving in the United States to participate in an academic conference; they were unhappy with their treatment and canceled their planned activities. We have tried very hard in the Department of State to promote people-to-people exchanges to facilitate this kind of conference and, as a general policy, we support these kind of efforts.

The fact is that the Department of Justice and the Immigration and Naturalization Service are responsible for entry procedures. As far as what happened in the airport, I would urge you to contact them. Suffice it to say from our standpoint, we continue to have an active dialogue with the Department of Justice and the INS to try to see what steps can be taken to minimize these kind of problems.

QUESTION: And then let me just ask, in fact, what the immigration officials said was that it was normal policy to photograph and fingerprint people coming in from Iran. And do you think that's an appropriate way for those individuals to be treated, given -- (inaudible)?

MR. RUBIN: Right. There are exceptions that have been made on certain case-by-case basis, so it's not a simple question of this is the only way to do business. So we are engaged in an active dialogue with the Department of Justice and the INS to try to ensure that we can make the procedures as minimally intrusive as possible. That dialogue continues and we will continue to work to that end.

QUESTION: Are you disappointed that it didn't happen in this case?

MR. RUBIN: Again, I couldn't get into the specifics.

..................

(The briefing was concluded at 1:50 P.M.)

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