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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (5473)	4/13/2003 11:48:47 AM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Iran's former president offers to help restore Iran-U.S. ties 12/04/2003 By The Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's former president offered Saturday to help restore ties with the United States, throwing his weight behind the idea of a referendum for the first time as hard-liners in the country nervously watch U.S.-led forces take control of neighboring Iraq. Hashemi Rafsanjani was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying that the question of restoring ties could be resolved through a referendum or by sending the question to the powerful advisory body he heads. Either way the final decision would have to be confirmed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, Rafsanjani said. But the mention of a referendum represents a marked shift by Rafsanjani, who has openly sided with hard-liners since stepping down as president in 1997. Khamenei has repeatedly rejected as "treason and stupidity" any talk about restoring ties with Washington, which have been cut since militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Rafsanjani, who heads the powerful Expediency Council, which advises Khamenei on state matters, has recently starting advocating flexibility. His suggestion comes amid heated debates in Iranian political circles on the possible threat to Iran from the U.S.-led coalition's victory in toppling Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq. Reformers say Iran - listed with Iraq and North Korea as part of U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" - could be next on America's target list if unelected hard-liners continue to resist voted reforms. More than 200 political activists signed a petition calling on the judiciary to release all political prisoners, lift closure of newspapers and stop arbitrary disqualification of candidates in general elections as a way to avoid U.S. threats, IRNA reported Saturday. "The way to avoid serious foreign threats, nullify the subject of foreign intervention and get out of the current (political) deadlock is to remove the obstacles in the way of national demands," IRNA quoted the petition as saying. Rafsanjani, who enjoys the limelight, also is apparently trying to mend fences with reformers and improve his popular image after a humiliating defeat in legislative elections in 2000. During Friday prayer sermons this month, he said he thought "we can work with the United States ... provided they gave up their colonialist and anti-Islamic policies." IRNA quoted him Saturday as saying that one way to "resolve the problem of Iran-U.S. relations" would be to "hold a referendum, provided the parliament approves it and then is confirmed by the supreme leader. "The other option is to leave it to the Expediency Council," he said. Khamenei still would have the final say, but "when we (Expediency Council) approve an issue, he (Khamenei) usually approves it," he added. Reformists have been pushing for the question of Iran-U.S. relations to be decided by referendum, while hard-liners say the supreme leader is the only authority to make that decision. haaretzdaily.com