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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

................... QUESTION: On Iran. Have you seen President Khatemi's remarks concerning the Secretary's offer for a road map leading to normal relations.

MR. RUBIN: First of all, I could note that he welcomed the tone; and certainly that's a good thing. I can also note that we don't expect this kind of serious speech by Secretary Albright and the follow-up comments by the President to yield an immediate reaction on the part of the Iranian Government, including its president. I believe these were comments made in a press conference in response to questions. I believe they also refer to the possibility of further reaction by the Iranian Government in the future.

So we have not regarded any of the statements that have been made in the days after the Secretary's speech and the President's comments as definitive reactions to her speech; in much the same way that we did not react immediately to all of the things that he said. And frankly, the most formal, comprehensive reaction to what President Khatemi said in January just came about a month ago. Nevertheless, we are prepared, as the Secretary said, to pursue parallel steps, to respond as they respond. We would obviously respond appropriately, and it would depend on what they do and what they say.

So this process is continuing. Certainly to the extent that President Khatemi recognized the effort on the Secretary's part to reflect the realities of Iran and the fact that the Iranian people have spoken in dramatically overwhelming numbers for change and for openness and for the rule of law, that's certainly a god thing.

QUESTION: But he specifically mentioned that her words will be evaluated based on concrete measures and not words.

MR. RUBIN: That's not the quote I read; you have to read these things real carefully if you want me to give you a hand.

QUESTION: We would evaluate that sincerity in concrete gestures and not in words - basically, reiterating what conservatives were saying.

MR. RUBIN: The tone of these things is extremely important. I don't want to get ahead of the tone or the substance. Both governments - us and the Iranians - are governments - presumably, on their part - let me just speak for ours - care about policies and care about, in our case, stopping the support for terrorism and stopping the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction programs. They have their own concerns, and they can speak to them.

What we have said is that as a starting point, understanding the motivations of each side and understanding the significance of statements of each side can help create a parallel process where steps are taken by one side, reactions are appropriately taken by the other and we can move down the road. We believe the Secretary's speech was designed to not only make clear that we understood what was going on in Iran, but also that in the absence of direct dialogue, parallel steps were possible. So we'll have to see.

QUESTION: Jamie, I know you don't usually comment on municipal matters, but do you have any observations about the trial of the mayor of Tehran? Are you observing it?

MR. RUBIN: I'm sure that our analysts are carefully watching that trial. I don't care to get into who's up or who's down discussion in Tehran, in terms of moderates and conservatives and clerics and all of that; other than to say that we as a nation are a nation of laws, and to the extent that other countries act pursuant to the rule of law, we think it's good for the world.

............... QUESTION: With apologies because I was out during the time of the Secretary's speech, but just for the record, is the U.S. policy of dual containment still the policy?

MR. RUBIN: We had an extensive discussion on this, and I recommend - I mean, it went on for many minutes. I don't see any need to replay that.

QUESTION: I'll spare my colleagues.

MR. RUBIN: I believe it was had with the gentleman who is not sitting over there, and I will be happy to give you the transcript afterwards. If you have a further question, we can go back at it tomorrow.

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

(The briefing concluded at 1:30 P.M.)

[end of document]