FIRST – HISTORIC -- TELEPHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN KHATAMI AND BLAIR
By Safa Haeri, with reports from Tehran and London
PARIS 21 Sept. (IPS) "Terrorism is a threat against the whole of humanity and one needs an international effort, dialogue and exchange in order to deter and combat its roots, causes and also its outcomes", Iranian President Mohammad Khatami told the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The remarks were made in an unprecedented 15 minutes telephone conversation between the two leaders, the first ever since the victory of the Islamic revolution 22 years ago.
The conversation took place Thursday, while the British Prime Minister was en route to the United States to meet President George W. Bush.
"I had a remarkable conversation with the Iranian President", Mr. Blair announced to correspondents traveling with him, adding cheerfully "I have just put down the phone after a conversation with the president of Iran, and that in itself was a remarkable conversation", Mr. Blair said.
"Britain and Iran could forge a new relationship on the back of international efforts to beat terrorism, the Prime Minister said Thursday after the mid-air talks with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami about last week's attacks on the United States.
Mr. Khatami also warned against any "hastily, outweighed and violent actions" that would encourage and help terrorists to reach their goals, correspondents reported about the conversation.
"Not only did he give his full solidarity in terms of what had happened to the USA and his strong condemnation of terrorism", he added.
He (Khatami) also hinted at "a new relationship between our two countries as well", Mr. Blair said, adding that it was "a conversation I could not have imagined having a couple of weeks ago".
Iran, which has not had diplomatic relations with the United States for the past 22 years, condemned last week's attacks.
However, it has also warned against any US reprisals targeting neighbouring Afghanistan, which is harbouring Osama Ben Laden, the primary suspect for the suicide plane attacks.
The conversation followed an exchange of letters between the two men.
Downing Street office said on Monday a letter containing a message was sent by the Prime Minister to President Khatami last week in the immediate aftermath of the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.
"Moves that would intensify and complicate the ongoing crisis and spread it to all the world would not benefit any country or nation", Hojjatoleslam Khatami observed in his letter, adding that "patience, rather than haste and vengeance", can help provide a solution to the problem.
Iranian analysts and observers said the event is important as it might herald the beginning of "defrosting" the stalemated relations between Tehran and Washington.
"Considering the strategic and privileged relationships that exists between London and Washington, Mr. Blair writing to President Khatami and getting a prompt answer from him might mean that he was also acting on behalf of the Bush Administration", one Iranian analyst told Iran Press Service.
United States cut its relations with the newly proclaimed Islamic Republic of Iran in November 1979 after Iranian students stormed the American embassy compound in central Tehran and took 55 American diplomats as hostages for 444 days.
Britain's ties with Iran have warmed significantly over the past few years after reaching a low point with the 1989 fatwa (religious decree) calling for the death of writer Salman Rushdie for alleged blasphemy against Islam.
They decided to normalise ties in September 1998 after Tehran said it would not be seeking to apply the decree and in May 1999, the two countries upgraded diplomatic ties by promoting their respective charge d'affaires to the rank of ambassador, the agency noted.
President Khatami was one of the first world leaders to condemn the deadly terrorist operations in New York and Washington and expressed sympathy with the families of the victims and the American people.
Other Iranian leaders followed him, including the staunchly anti-American leader of the regime, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i.
Mr. Ahmad Bourqani, a secretary of the Majles presidential board and hundreds of ordinary Iranians signed the condolence book at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran that represents American interests in Iran while the Mayor and the Head of Tehran City Council sent messages of sympathy to their counterparts in wounded city of New York.
More than 200 youngsters staged a candlelight vigil one day after the devastating terrorist operation imputed to Mr. Osama Ben Laden, a wealthy Saudi national living in Afghanistan (but a second one was brutally stopped by Law Enforcement Forces on the pretext that it lacked proper authorization from the authorities).
"Like you, I believe that we can bolster a spirit of understanding among cultures and civilisations as well as initiate a new approach in the fight against terrorism by removing tension, discrimination and humiliation in this world", President Khatami's letter said, according to the official news agency IRNA.
Blair, in his message, noted that the attacks on the United States were "against all humanity" and that an effective international strategy is needed to freeze the hands of terrorists.
While condemning the attacks on the United States, Iran however has said it would only support an international coalition against terrorism provided it is led by the United Nations, cautioning against any U.S. military strike on Afghanistan.
But many Iranians, including scholars, intellectuals, reformist officials and Members of the Majles (parliament) have urged the President to take "advantage" of the situation that they describe as a "golden occasion" to open dialogue with Washington at official level, ending 22 years of animosity that has badly harmed Iran’s economy and political stand.
But there are clearly limits to how far and how fast that might be achieved, as major foreign policy decisions are taken by Mr. Khameneh’i.
It is in that light that Iran has launched a diplomatic drive to try to head off U.S. military strikes against neighbouring Afghanistan, fearing they would lead to humanitarian catastrophe and a hardening of Islamic opinion against the West, observers said.
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi telephoned European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana and the foreign ministers of Italy, Pakistan, India and current EU presidency holders Belgium to press the point, IRNA said on Thursday.
"Any retaliatory action against Afghanistan would lead to the massacre of more innocent people and leave many homeless" the official agency quoted Kharrazi as telling his Italian counterpart Renato Ruggiero.
"The terrorists must be tracked down and severely punished", Kharrazi told Pakistan's Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar.
With some two million Afghan refugees already inside the country, Iran has ordered troops to seal its 900-km (560-mile) eastern border with Afghanistan.
Iran also said on Thursday it would never allow U.S. warplanes to use its airspace to attack Afghanistan, reinforcing the Islamic republic's neutrality in the event of any conflict in the neighbouring country.
"We will never allow American airplanes to use Iranian airspace to attack Afghanistan", foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told Reuters.
Asefi also said under no circumstances would Iran allow Saudi-born Osama bin Laden -- Washington's prime suspect in last week's suicide attacks on U.S. landmarks -- to enter the country after senior Afghan clerics urged him to leave Afghanistan.
Observers said though Iran would welcome the downfall of the Taleban, but at the same time it fears that any government that succeeds the ruling Afghan regime would be obedient to the United States, leading to Iran’s encirclement by American presence on all its borders except a portion of frontiers with neighbouring Iraq. ENDS IRAN BRITAIN US EXPLOSION 21901