IRAN TAKES THE CENTRE STAGE AMONG MUSLIM STATES IN FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM
By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor
PARIS First of October (IPS) Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi returned to Tehran Monday from a rather successful whirlwind tour of two key Arab countries, rallying them around the Iranian thesis of "fighting international terrorism under the United National auspices".
Talking to reporters at Tehran Mehrabad Airport, Mr. Kharrazi confirmed that his visit to Damascus and Cairo trip was aimed at "creating the necessary coordination" between Muslims’s position towards terrorism ahead of the extraordinary ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).
The meeting of the Jeddah-based OIC was proposed to Persian Gulf, oil-rich Emirate of Qatar, the present president of the 54 members organisation by Iran itself to "discuss current world and regional developments following the September 11 attacks on targets in the United States".
The Iranian President had also conferred by telephone with the powerful Saudi Crown Prince Amir Abdollah on the issues.
"Fortunately, there is a good concurrence of views between Iran and the three countries on terrorism both in terms of definition and with respect to how to fight it", Mr. Kharrazi said.
In his tour, Mr. Kharrazi also went to Beirut, where he assured leaders of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah of continued Tehran support.
With delegates from various European nations rushing to Tehran while leading Iranian reformists were urging President Khatami tomore voices were heard urging to both sound out Iranian intentions on the crisis and encourage them to foster Muslim world unity against terrorism and terrorists, leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah grew uneasy, fearing to be abandoned by its Iranian masters.
The Iran-backed organisation is at the centre of a controversy between Tehran in the one hand and Washington and the European Union on the other, as the Iranians consider the Hezbollah, as well as Palestinian HAMAS and Islamic Jihad, as groups "fighting for the liberation of their homelands from Israeli occupation" while the West in general and the US in particular, brand them as "terrorist" organisations.
Both Iran and Syria are on the American list of "rogue states" supporting international terrorism.
But Iran Press Service has learned from informed sources that in order to encourage Muslim nations to join his "crusade" against terrorism, President George W. Bush intends to ask the Congress to remove both countries from the black list.
Though Iran does not have diplomatic relations with Washington, yet Iran was one of the first non-Western nations that not only strongly condemn the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States and expressed sympathy with the grieved American people.
However, it conditioned its co-operation in the anti-terrorist fight provided the operations are led and supervised by the United Nations, not Washington.
Strangely enough, among all the world’s Muslim capitals, Tehran was the only one where ordinary people, mostly youngsters of both sexes, staged several candlelight vigils – some of them disrupted violently by Law Enforcement Forces though -- in memory of the victim of the World Trade Center twin towers that collapsed minutes after terrorists hijackers crushed two passenger planes into them, opening a new page in the world’s history of terrorism.
Considering the crucial role Iran could play in rallying Muslim nations into the international efforts against terrorism, the European Union pressed the United States to reciprocate the surprise Iranian friendly gesture.
"The suggestion was passed on President Bush by his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, the first leader to meet him one week after the deadly terrorist operations in New York and in Washington", informed European sources told IPS.
Realising fully the gravity of the situation created by the devastating attacks, the Iranian "troika" decided to address it with three distinct languages aimed at local, regional and international audiences.
Hence, the harsh speech by the Iranian regime’s number one leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i against the Americans, described as "incompetent, insincere and unfit" to lead the international coalition against terrorism; Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the number two man’s Friday "landmark" statement assuring the United States that Iran would stand at its side "despite all the differences they have" and finally efforts deployed relentlessly President Mohammad Khatami, the nation’s number three official, to rally Islamic – and some non Islamic -- states around the Iranian "formula", that seems to be acceptable for both the Western and Muslim public opinions.
The US Administration was informed about this "division of work" by Mr. Jack Straw, the British Foreign Affairs Minister after his short stay in Tehran, where he handed the Iranian with a message from the Americans.
Though nothing about the message was disclosed and Mr. Straw insisted time and again that he was not carrying in message for the Iranians, yet, observers noted, it was during this visit that Ayatollah Khameneh’i called an emergency meeting of the Supreme Council for National Security, attended by Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani and President Khatami.
In meeting with Syrians and Egyptians, Mr. Kharrazi explained the "need for organised, co-ordinated and prudent international fight against terrorism" under the auspices of the United Nations as a "suitable venue" for finding a way of rooting out this ominous phenomenon".
It was the second time that the head of Iran’s diplomacy was meeting with Egyptian President, to whom he conveyed a message from his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Khatami, who had talked with him on the phone prior Mr. Kharrazi’s arrival to Cairo, coming from Damascus.
Though Iran does not have full diplomatic relations with Cairo, but ties are quite close and the two sides often co-operate closely in international forums.
During his visit, besides his Egyptian counterpart Ahmad Maher and Mr. Amr Musa, Arab League’s Secretary General, Mr. Kharrazi, a devout Shi’a Muslim, also met with Sheikh Mohammad Tantawi, the powerful Head of Al Azhar Islamic Centre, one of the Sunni Muslim’s highest religious authority.
"The two countries' presidents recent phone conversation was positive and stressed future consultations between Cairo and Tehran on issues of mutual concern", Mr. Kharrazi said after his talks with Mr. Maher.
Maher described his discussion with Iranian delegation as "important and fruitful".
"Egypt are two important Islamic countries and their close cooperation can be an impetus for resolving outstanding issues in the Muslim world while precipitating their active participation in international developments", he said.
"Muslim nations should have harmonious views and united positions and thwart the plots hatched by enemies of Islam to promote dialogue of civilisation as a way to resolve international crisis at the current sensitive juncture", Mr. Kharrazi added.
On the recent terror attacks in the U.S., Maher said that Iran and Egypt have "common views and will strive to find a solutions to the current crisis".
Kharrazi said the world is witnessing new developments in the aftermath of terror attack in the U.S. "The Muslim world is sensitive to these developments and will strive to have its voice heard in future decisions", the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported from Cairo.
"Iran and Egypt play an important role in the Muslim world and believe that terrorism cannot be confronted superficially, but its roots should be understood while it is tackled in an equitable and just manner", Kharrazi further said, adding that an international consensus is needed to find out the roots of terrorism.
"Elaborating the stance taken by Egypt in dealing with the terrorist act in the U.S., the world of Islam is concerned over the existing situation and all Islamic and Arabic countries should try to prevent a much graver catastrophe, adding that the innocent people should not be killed", IRNA quoted Mr. Mobarak as having told his Iranian guest.
The tone was harsher in Damascus, where Iranian and Syrian Foreign Affairs Ministers "deplored" that the "racist Zionist regime" (Israel) is misusing the present situation to intensify attacks against Palestinians.
They had also called for averting a human catastrophe in Afghanistan, and pledged to take measures to foil attempts to link Islam with terrorism.
"Kharrazi and Al-Shara qualified as "sensitive" the present situation in Afghanistan in the wake of possible U.S. reprisals, and observed that Muslim states had to forge a united stand vis-a vis the attacks". ENDS IRAN MUSLIMS 11001