KHAMENEH'I ORDER REJECTING LAST US CONCILIATORY PROPOSALS FAILED
By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor
LONDON 19TH March (IPS) It has now emerged that Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i's bid orchestrating the vehement rejection of the new proposals by the United States aimed at facilitating normalisation process with the Islamic Republic has failed.
Talking privately to Iran Press Service in London, sources with access to the leader's office disclosed that in order to stop at once any possible endorsement of normalisation by the Government in the one hand but afraid of having to rebuke a president whose popularity had been confirmed by the overwhelming victory of the reformists in the Majles elections on the other, Mr. Khameneh'i, prompted by Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, directed Mr. Rohani, the Pasdaran, the public media, the conservative clerics and the Friday imams under his payroll to enter the stage and denounce Washington's new move as interference in Iranian affairs.
"Contradictory and conflicting but open statements by Iranian opposing sides concerning this burning issue of relations with Washington points to the growing weakness of the leader who is more and more deserted by his own troops", the source said, referring to the latest statement made on the subject by Mr. Mohsen Reza'i, the Secretary of the Expediency Council and former Commander of the Revolutionary Guards.
In an address to the American Iranian Council (AIC), the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced Friday the lifting of ban on the import of Iranian luxury goods such as caviar -- the other Iranian "black gold" next to oil --, carpet and pistachio into the huge US market as well as measures to pave the way for final settlement of existing claims she described as "substantial".
To help removing a major outstanding Iranian rancour against Washington, she accepted, without offering any apology though, the United States past meddling in Iranian internal affairs, foremost of them the plot, or "coup" fomented in 1953 by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with the help of the British Intelligence Service to remove nationalist Prime Minister Mohammad Mosadeq and reinstall back to his throne Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
She also acknowledged as "unfortunate" the vital military and intelligence assistance the United States in particular and the West in general provided to Iraq during the eight-year long Iran-Iraq War, a support that not only saved the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to resist, but finishing the conflict in a draw, the plan that was suggested by the former State Secretary Henry Kissinger.
However, she made the "misfortunate" mistake by stating that new measures were intended to further strengthen the hands of President Mohammad Khatami and the reformists who scored a landslide victory in the recent Legislative elections against the ruling conservatives who are led by the staunchly anti-American Khameneh'i.
She had also singled out the Pasdaran for having increased recently their presence in Lebanon boosting the might of the Iranian-backed, trained and -- partially -- financed Lebanese Hezbollah in its devastating operations against the Israeli army in the area it occupies in South of Lebanon, hence the Revolutionary Guards statement condemning Mrs. Albright's conference.
A week earlier, President Clinton had re-conducted the sanctions imposed on vital Iranian oil industries.
Reiterating these sanctions, Mrs. Albright also repeated the three US conditions for improving relations with Iran, namely stopping opposition to the Middle East Peace Process, support of terrorism and terrorist organisations and becoming a nuclear power.
The speech -- communicated beforehand and in exclusivity to the English language daily "Iran News", a publication of the pro-Government official news agency IRNA and transmitted in texto by the Agency -- was immediately responded warmly by Iran's permanent Ambassador to the United Nations Hadi Nezhad Hosseinian who spoke on the same podium and welcomed latter by the Foreign Ministry's official spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.
Both reactions from Mr. Nezhad Hosseinian and Mr Asefi and the fact that all speeches were dispatched by IRNA were interpreted by many political analysts and Iran watchers as reflecting President Khatami's views on relations with the United States.
However, Mrs. Albright's declaration received a cold shoulder the morning after by both Hojatoleslam Hasan Rohani, the Secretary of the Supreme Council on National Security (SCNS) who is also vice-Speaker and Chairman of the outgoing Majles (parliament) Foreign Committee Affairs and the Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran), accusing the United States of continuing unabated it's "shameful and repugnant" interference in Iranian affairs.
[This reaction that surprised most Iranian and foreign analysts was forecast by Iran Press Service in its first report on Mrs. Albright's address to AIC dated the same day].
[It is also noteworthy that Mr. Rohani, an influential personality close to both the leader and the Chairman of the Expediency Council who often carry tightly kept secret missions for Iranian Armed Forces, was defeated in the last parliamentary elections].
But In an exclusive interview with IRNA carried Sunday, Mr. Reza'i termed as ''important'' Mrs. Albright's speech, saying the new Iranian year of 1379 that start on Monday would be an important one for relations between Iran and the United States.
He told IRNA that Washington's explicit acknowledgement to failure of its policies against Iran both before and after the 1979 Islamic revolution is a "great political victory for Iran".
"The introductory measures indicate inauguration of a new chapter in the US policies towards Iran, he pointed out, adding that the new strategy adopted by the US can lead to restoration of relations with Iran only under the condition of Washington's success in removing contradictions in its foreign policy".
At first look, it appeared that the decision to have the SCNS to announce publicly the view of the regime concerning Washington's new overture was the result of an agreement worked out by both President Khatami and Ayatollah Khameneh'i, respectively the Chairman and Superviser of the body, to avoid the voicing of conflicting reactions from the reformists who favour normalisation and the conservatives who opposes it.
Other sources, close the reformists suggested that Mr. Rohani's declaration made to the leader-controlled Radio and Television must not be taken "too seriously", explaining that the goal was to "prepare" the public opinion for a normalisation that is to come soon, since the whole "show", including Mrs. Albright's speech and Mr. Nezhad Hosseinian's answer was carefully prepared in advance by the pro-reformists AIC, a private organisation created under and with funds from former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to pave the way for normalising Iran-US diplomatic relations.
Not only the lobby survived Mr. Rafsanjani and shifted allegiance to his successor, but also was reinvigorated with Mr. Khatami's landmark proposal of "bringing down the wall of mistrust and dialogue among civilisations", resulting in a flurry of exchanges of scholars, intellectuals, sportsmen, journalists, scientists and tourists between the two camps. ENDS IRAN US REACTION 19300