Iran economicaly is in deep s--t. And there was several riots this summer caused by water and food shortages.
From Washington Post:
""Longtime Foes U.S., Iran Explore Improved Relations By Steven Mufson and Marc Kaufman Washington Post Staff Writers
Bombs were falling in Afghanistan and anthrax spores had been found on Capitol Hill, but an unusual dinner took place anyway less than two weeks ago in a private Senate dining room. It featured a few members of Congress and the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, whose country is still officially listed by the State Department as a sponsor of terrorism.
The dinner was surprisingly warm. The lawmakers were led by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who is Jewish and a vocal supporter of Israel. The diplomatic guest, Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, was from a country that has been denouncing the United States as the Great Satan for more than two decades and actively finances Palestinian militants.
"It was a first," said Specter, who hopes to use the momentum from the dinner to arrange a formal meeting of American and Iranian legislators. "I think it's a significant development that we and the Iranians can have this kind of meeting. There are moderates there who want to turn a new page, and Afghanistan can jump-start the process."
The dinner on Capitol Hill is just one of many quiet signals that Iran and the United States, longtime antagonists, are exploring better relations. It is an effort that has been going on for the past couple of years, but it has taken on new dimensions now that Iran and the United States appear to be making common cause against the Taliban, the Afghan rulers that have harbored accused terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
Iran has taken the unusual steps of offering to conduct search and rescue missions for downed American pilots and allowing the United States to unload up to 165,000 tons of U.S. wheat at Iranian ports and truck the food through northeastern Iran to Afghan refugees. There was also an outpouring of both official and public sympathy in Iran after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and U.S. officials have warmly acknowledged that response.
Even before Sept. 11, prominent Iranians, including Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, had traveled to the United States for informal meetings with academics, former officials, members of Congress and business executives. The Senate dinner was scheduled before the attacks, as well. Before taking office this year, many Bush administration officials and confidantes -- including State Department director for policy and planning Richard Haass, former National Security Council adviser Brent Scowcroft and Vice President Cheney -- had indicated a desire to ease the economic sanctions on Iran.
Now, Iran appears especially eager to take advantage of the post-attack diplomatic thaw. Hooshang Amirahmadi, head of the American-Iranian Council, a group that advocates better ties, said Iran is sending clear messages that it is willing to improve relations.
Amirahmadi said that it would be significant under any circumstances for Iran to allow its port, Bandar Abbas, to become the central distribution point for American food aid going into Afghanistan. But to make that agreement while the United States is bombing its neighbor is "big time. . . . This is a major statement that Iran is making," he said.
An Iranian official in New York, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hosseinian's dinner in Washington was an effort to formalize the positive contacts between the two countries since the terrorist attack. "Many things have been done by Iran in a very deliberate and policy-oriented way,"he said. "We look forward to continuing the positive atmosphere and to seeing some modification of U.S. policy in Iran."
In particular, Iran would like to see U.S. sanctions reduced or removed, and it is interested in restoring formal relations. The only formal vehicle for U.S. diplomatic contacts with Iran has been the "six plus two" organization -- the six nations that border Afghanistan plus the United States and Russia -- and specifically its committee on narcotics trafficking. A proposal to expand the group and set up a committee to deal with terrorism issues could create a vehicle for U.S.-Iranian talks on Iran's support for the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups, a senior State Department official said.
An Iranian parliamentary committee yesterday called for direct talks with the United States on setting up a new Afghan government. The Reuters news agency quoted a member of parliament as saying, "We neither have a permanent enemy, nor a permanent friend. We must review the past policies and pursue only our interests."
From the U.S. government's point of view, however, three crucial obstacles to better relations remain. They are Iran's support for Hezbollah and Hamas, which are on the State Department's terrorist list because of their attacks against Israel; U.S. suspicions that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and long-range missile technology; and U.S. accusations that Iran was behind the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers military barracks in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen.
In addition, Iran's hostility to Israel creates problems in Congress, which has taken the lead in enforcing economic and diplomatic sanctions. Mahmood Sarioghalam, a foreign policy expert at the National University of Tehran who is optimistic about a rapprochement, conceded in a talk last week at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that "many people in high places in Iran do not understand the importance of Israel in America."
Canadian Foreign Minister John Manley, one of many Western diplomats to visit Iran recently, said yesterday that Tehran should send a "clear message" to Palestinian groups that it opposes the use of violence.
A senior U.S. official recently summed up U.S.-Iranian relations to a Council on Foreign Relations meeting by saying the United States would continue to flirt with Iran, and that it was periodically encouraged by comments from Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a moderate. But the United States generally has seen its hopes dashed by the religious conservatives who hold power. Many of them continue to speak out against closer ties.
Nonetheless, recent developments have been intriguing, according to Giandomenico Picco, an Italian who negotiated the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988 and who still travels often to Iran as a consultant and U.N. envoy. "Beyond the commonality of interests on Afghanistan, there has been an understanding on both sides that there is an opportunity to overcome some of the distrust," he said.
The United States put an exiled Iranian opposition group on the State Department's terrorist list despite a lawsuit by the group. The State Department has also lauded Iran for its efforts against the Afghan opium trade, noting that 3,000 Iranian police have been killed in clashes with drug traffickers.
Other trust-building measures include a new Harvard University program that brings mid-level Iranian government officials to the United States to attend senior executive seminars at the university.
Kharrazi, the foreign minister, gave a speech in July at Columbia University followed by a private dinner with about 40 business executives. Kharrazi proposed increasing exchanges, particularly with U.S.-educated Iranians. The next month he said publicly that Iran would continue a policy of "detente."
In August, a Japanese official who went to Iran for the signing of an agreement on oil exploration in Azadegan, a huge prospective oil field, was told by a senior Iranian energy official that parts of it would be set aside for U.S. oil companies. Currently, an executive order prevents any U.S. company from such investments, and the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act imposes U.S. penalties on foreign companies that do business with either of those countries.
On Sept. 9, Khatami told Picco that the effort to mend relations was "a human necessity and a historical need." U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan invited Khatami to come to New York for talks, and Iranian officials said Khatami would now like to come.
"Earlier, he was not necessarily planning on coming," said Amirahmadi, who is in contact with Iranian officials. "But they've decided something serious is happening with the U.S. and Iran." washingtonpost.com |
