DATE=3/21/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=U-S OFFERS OLIVE BRANCH TO IRAN
NUMBER=6-11738
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
INTRO: Reacting to the recent parliamentary elections
in Iran in which reformers scored a huge victory over
the anti-U-S religious hierarchy, the United States
has lifted restrictions on several products from that
nation.
Some bans, specifically on crude oil, remain, but the
gesture, made in a speech last week by Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright, is seen as a major overture
to the government in Teheran. Several U-S papers
agree, and we get a sampling now from ___________ in
today's Editorial Digest.
TEXT: In her speech, Mrs. Albright announced several
steps including the beginning of a process to return
millions of dollars in frozen assets to Iran. The
money has been held since 1980 after Iranian militants
stormed the U-S Embassy and took more than 50 people
hostage.
The changes also included a lifting of an import ban
on several Iranian luxury goods such as pistachios and
caviar; relaxing entry for Iranian scholars and
athletes to visit the United States.
While Mrs. Albright did not actually apologize, she
did acknowledge past American meddling in Iran,
including Central Intelligence Agency cooperation in
the ouster of nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed
Mossadegh in 1953. It was that overthrow that
restored the reign of the Shah to power, and
ultimately led to the Islamic fundamentalist
revolution in 1979.
The Washington Post called the steps "the boldest
attempt yet by the Clinton administration to
capitalize on the movement toward moderation" that
began in Iran with the election in 1997 of President
Mohammed Khatami, a reformist Islamic cleric.
With that background, we begin our sampling in Ohio,
where The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer is pleased to see
the thaw in relations progressing a pace.
VOICE: By lifting sanctions on a few Iranian consumer
goods, the Clinton administration has shown U-S
willingness to reward trends toward less restrictive
rule in Tehran. ... How many Iranians or Americans
will benefit tangibly is hard to predict. But
symbolically, the step ... may help Iran's burgeoning
reform movement. ... as the Washington Post noted
recently, the sweeping victory of reform candidates in
recent elections has made observers in the Arab world
take notice. Few pure democracies exist in the Middle
East, though governments there are under increasing
pressure over restrictions on civil liberties. ...
Americans and Iranians alike should be weary of the
hostilities their leaders have indulged in since
Islamic militants seized the U-S Embassy in 1979. If
the administration can ... improve the prospects of
Iranian reformers, it is wise to do so.
TEXT: For the view from [the state of] Tennessee, we
check the [Memphis] Commercial Appeal, which is
pleased that things are beginning to thaw.
VOICE: With an astute sense of timing, Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright has chosen the start of the
Iranian new year to signal Iran that the United States
is willing to move toward "a more normal and mutually
productive relationship. As a first step, [Secretary]
Albright offered to remove two minor irritants in U-S
- Iran relations - a ban on imports of Iranian
carpets, pistachios, caviar and dried fruit, and the
removal of cumbersome visa requirements for Iranian
academics, athletes and professionals visiting the
United States. .... But the most important part of
her overture, as it will be received in Iran, was her
forthright admission that the United States had
meddled in Iranian affairs to the detriment of the
Iranian people. The Iranians have long sought some
official public confession, or at least
acknowledgment, of this history as they see it. The
U-S-backed overthrow of a popular Prime Minister,
Mohammed Mossadegh, was "clearly a setback for Iran's
political development," [Mrs.] Albright said. For 25
years,the United States backed the increasingly brutal
and repressive government of the shah. ... The
Iranian government remains deeply divided, with hard-
liners still in control of the military and security
apparatus. That area is where our remaining
disagreements with Iran - support of terrorism,
attempts to derail the Mideast peace process, and
efforts to develop nuclear weapons - have their
roots. But clearly the moderates and reformers are
ascending in Iran. [Mrs.] Albright's gesture may
hasten that process.
TEXT: The Atlanta Constitution is also pleased at
this latest development, but talks of the difficulty
in dealing with Iran, riven as it is by the opposing
forces of reform and orthodoxy.
VOICE: The Clinton administration is right to
encourage the reform movement in Iran, demonstrated
last month by the third straight election in which the
hard-liners lost seats in parliament. The relaxed
trade sanctions announced by [Secretary] Albright may
seem modest, but they mean a lot to entrepreneurs in
Iran who are in the forefront of those seeking change.
They also send a message that our two countries can do
much more business, including dealing in Iran's
currently embargoed oil, but only after its leaders
show their acceptance of international norms of
conduct. No one expects the bitter memories and
suspicion separating our two countries to dissipate
overnight. But as [Secretary] Albright pointed out,
the world has a lot to gain from our finding a way to
work together: regional stability, economic
development, a firmer grip on the narcotics trade in
the area, preservation of historic cultural sites and
environmental protection, to name a few.
TEXT: Turning to the Pacific Northwest, we read in
the Seattle Times, this view of the changing policy.
VOICE: It's about time. It has been more than 20
years since religious zealots seized the U-S embassy
in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for more than
a year. Since then, Iran has backed away from the
medieval theocracy it once embraced. There has been a
flowering of business, emergence of a more assertive
press and an entry into politics by Iranian women.
... U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright remains
concerned that Iran sponsors acts of terrorism - the
reason for sanctions in the first place. Until the
terrorist link ends, she warned - quite reasonably -
relations will not be fully normal. [Mrs.] Albright
told Iran the U-S has "no intention or desi4re to
interfere in the country's internal affairs." This
administration -n and the next - should follow
through on that.
TEXT: Lastly, The Washington Post also sees the
difficulties that lie ahead in trying to resurrect
such a troubled relationship, after the horrifying
occupation of the U-S Embassy and the hostage taking
of its staff in 1979.
VOICE: Can the Iranian people's evident desire for
closer ties with the West, as expressed in a series of
credible democratic elections, force Iran's government
to change its pro-terrorist, anti-American foreign
policy? The Clinton administration hopes so. Since
the 1997 election of reformist president Mohammed
Khatemi, the administration has been trying to start a
dialogue with Teheran - -efforts that Iran's
government, divided between Mr. Khatemi's forces and
largely unelected theocratic hard-liners, has
rebuffed. Last week ... the administration tried
again. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
acknowledged past U-S interference in Iranian internal
affairs, offered to expand people-to-people contacts
and legalized the importance of rugs, pistachios and
other Iranian non-oil exports. This proposed
expansion of trade is appropriately modest. The
necessity of the secretary's musings about alleged
American misdeeds in Iran, including c-I-A support for
the ouster of nationalist prime minister Mohammed
Mossadegh in 1953 and U-S backing for Iraq during the
1980-1988 Iran-Iraqi war, was less clear. ... Her
words easily could be used to validate the demonized
view of U-S foreign policy propagated by Iran's hard-
liners, yet, until now, the events of 1953 had not
prevented the rise of pro-Americanism among youthful
supporters of Mr. Khatemi. ... the administration has
proffered yet another unilateral American gesture; now
it's time for Iran to reciprocate. Mr. Khatemi's
reformist intent is clear on the domestic front, but
he has yet to show that he can and will take charge of
foreign policy...
TEXT: With those thoughts, we conclude this sampling
of editorial comment on the recent concessions made by
the United States to Iran in the wake of reform
victories in the recent parliamentary elections there.
NEB/ANG/
22-Mar-2000 08:57 AM EDT (22-Mar-2000 1357 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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