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DUBAI - A Washington furore over support for Iranian guerrillas adds to the delicate nature of President Mohammad Khatami's forthcoming address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, political analysts said on Thursday.
Hopes for hastening a slow thaw in mutual hostility between Washington and Tehran might be frustrated by a row over the status of Iranian exiles fighting the Tehran government.
Differences between the U.S. State Department and a majority of the House of Representatives over whether the main Iranian opposition group Mujahideen Khalq (MKO) is a "terrorist" group surfaced on Wednesday.
The Mujahideen advocates the armed overthrow of Iran's clergy-dominated government. Iranian warplanes have attacked its bases and military camps in Iraq.
The group's president-in-exile Maryam Rajavi, has predicted Iran's "clerical regime will be toppled before the end of the 20th century."
When the State Department added the MKO to its list last year the MKO said it was a goodwill gesture to Khatami's new government.
A statement signed by 220 members of the 435-seat House described the MKO as a "legitimate opposition to the Iranian regime" and faulted U.S. government policy as "wrong-headed."
Congressmen said that despite Khatami's election there was no sign that Iran was responding to U.S. overtures, and the best way to deal with Tehran was to deny it any concessions.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran, quoted its U.S. representative as saying in Washington that more than 10,000 Iranian-Americans would rally in front of the U.N. headquarters to protest against Khatami's presence.
Disgraceful Retreat By Mullahs' President, Iran Zamin News Agency, September 16
Mullahs' President Mohammad Khatami stated yesterday that his trip to the United States will not last more than two days and that there will be no welcoming ceremonies at the airport or elsewhere. Khatami also said that he will take along only 12 officials and will not meet any American officials.
It had been announced previously that the delegation accompanying Khatami had more than 100 members and that the U.S. had agreed to grant them entry visas. Moreover, since several months ago, the regime's agents in the U.S. had spent millions of dollars in a desperate attempt to bring a number of Iranians to New York to welcome Khatami.
A statement by the National Council of Resistance of Iran said: "The change in Khatami's itinerary in the U.S. is, before all else, a disgraceful retreat in the face of extensive protests by freedom-loving Iranians living in the United States against Khatami's trip and the exposure of his nature and crimes as well as placating policies by some Western circles to 'resurrect the clerical state' to the detriment of the Iranian people's sovereignty."
Khatami's Major Ally: Those Planing to Enfeeble The Leader Should Be Whacked, State-controlled Tehran Times, September 17
TEHRAN - Hojjatoleslam Seyed Ali Akbar Mohtashemi strongly criticized the Law Enforcement and said all officials including the president are dutybound to safeguard the pure values of the Islamic Revolution.
Mohtashemi who is a member of the Majma-e Rouhaniyoun-e Mobarez (assembly of militant clerics) said in time of the late Imam the U.S. and the White House armed with atomic and anti-human weapons were scared of the forces of the revolution.
However, he added, after 20 years, security problems have emerged with regard to citizens and high-ranking officials of the country.
He stressed that all the lovers of the leader should slap on the face of those who work to drain power of the leadership.
Iranian Newspaper Banned, Several Staff Arrested, Agence France Presse, September 16
TEHRAN - An Iranian newspaper which supports President Mohammad Khatami was banned on Wednesday and several of its staff arrested for articles described as "against national interests and security."
Toos began publication in June as the successor to another paper, Jameeh, which had been ordered to shut down.
The ban on Toos came a day after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blasted publications and ordered the authorities to limit their activities.
Khamenei, in a meeting with Revolutionary Guards commanders, accused "certain newspapers" of caving in to a "creeping Western cultural onslaught ... targeting people's faith, Islam and the (1979 Islamic) revolution."