Iran Doesn't Want Dole Visit for Now, U.S. Says
Fri January 2, 2004 02:20 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran does not want a U.S. humanitarian mission led by Sen. Elizabeth Dole to visit the country at the moment after last week's earthquake in Bam, the State Department said on Friday.
"We have heard back today from the Iranians that given the current situation in Bam and all that is going on there now, it would be preferable to hold such a visit in abeyance. Therefore we are not pursuing it further at the moment," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.
A U.S. official said the Bush administration had been talking to Dole, a North Carolina Republican who headed the American Red Cross in the 1990s, about going to Iran after the earthquake in which up to 50,000 people may have perished.
Speaking earlier, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the idea of sending the delegation was "one of several under consideration," and that the administration was waiting to see if the Iranians were receptive.
The idea raised questions about whether Washington might be seeking to improve ties with Tehran, which were severed in 1980 during the 1979-81 hostage ordeal when Iranian students held 52 Americans for 444 days.
The U.S. official appeared to scotch that notion.
"It is not a diplomatic initiative. It is not a political opening," he said. "If you want to have a better relationship with the United States, you need to stop supporting terrorism, you need to make sure your nuclear program is peaceful."
The United States lists Iran as a "state sponsor of terrorism," and U.S. officials accuse Iran of developing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran has denied.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted by Iran's state television as saying, "Offering relief to survivors of the earthquake must continue without turning into a political issue because it's a humanitarian issue."
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