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The National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement on Wednesday indicating that the remarks by mullahs' President Khatami in his meeting yesterday with reporters in New York contained nothing new on the regime's positions against Salman Rushdie. By reiterating that the fatwa to murder Rushdie is a matter of jurisprudence, he was in fact saying that it cannot be rescinded.
The statement added that this fact was contrary to the biased reports broadcast by the CNN and some Western circles.
In the past, the clerical regime's officials had time and again made similar remarks. For example, on October 10, 1997, Hashemi Rafsanjani, then the regime's president, described the decree as "an expert opinion." But this did not prevent mullah Hassan Sane'i, an advisor and a close ally of Khatami, to formally call on Muslims around the world on September 10, 1998 to "carry out the fatwa to murder Rushdie" in return for a 2.5-million-dollar reward.
After Khomeini issued the anti-Islamic and anti-human decree to murder Rushdie in 1989, Khatami, at the time Khomeini's propaganda minister, announced that "on the basis of His Eminence Imam Khomeini's religious fatwa, Rushdie must be executed." (Kayhan, March 7, 1989)
The NCR said that Khatami's hollow rhetoric in New York is intended for foreign consumption only and does not change the harsh realities in Iran. In fact, the state radio and televisions in Iran omitted Khatami's remarks about Rushdie when broadcasting his press briefing.
Bounty Still on Rushdie's Head—Tehran Diplomats, Reuter, September 23
A wealthy revolutionary foundation in Iran still has a $2.5 million bounty on the head of British author Salman Rushdie even though President Mohammad Khatami says the issue is "completely finished," diplomats said on Wednesday.
Khatami's statement appeared to constitute no substantive change in Iran's long-held position on the death sentence on the British author, diplomats in the Iranian capital said.
"Much will depend on whether the 15th of Khordad Foundation agrees to withdraw its reward for killing Rushdie," one Western diplomat in Tehran said.
"There hasn't been much sign of that so far. In fact, they increased it from $2 million only last year."
The Iranian government has refused to give written assurances sought by the British government.
U.S. View on Better Ties With Iran Seen Tempered, Reuter, September 23
Events of the past two days have tempered American expectations for improving U.S. ties with Iran.
After tantalizing the world with the prospect that U.S. and Iranian foreign ministers would attend the same eight-nation meeting at the United Nations this week —thus marking the highest-level U.S.-Iranian "contact" in years— Tehran's envoy reneged at the last minute.
And a speech by Mohammed Khatami, the first to the U.N. General Assembly by an Iranian president since 1987 was hardly the groundbreaking address U.S. officials and many analysts hoped for.
Iranian officials say their foreign minister missed the meeting, because schedules changed and he was elsewhere with Khatami. But U.S. officials and experts don't buy that.
Iranian Leader Dismisses All Hopes of Political Thaw, The New York Times, Sept. 23
President Mohammed Khatami of Iran said Tuesday that Iran has no intention of opening an official political dialogue with the United States until Washington takes concrete steps to change at least its policies toward his country….
Despite his friendly manner, Khatami said that his initiative for cultural exchanges between Iran and the United States had been misunderstood and did not include any government-to-government talks, at least for now.
Even visits to Iran by American congressman and mayors are not under consideration, he said….
A Leading Hostage-Taker in U.S. Embassy Takeover Accompanied Khatami on New York Trip, Iran Zamin News Agency, Sept. 21
Saeid Hajjarian, a member of the delegation accompanying Khatami to New York, was one of the key leaders of the hostage-takers who seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took U.S. citizens hostage in November 1979, according to reports from Iran.
Hajjarian, currently Khatami's political adviser and deputy director of the Center for Strategic Research, was one of the principal persons involved in the attack on the embassy and personally took part in the hostage-taking.
In subsequent years, as a prominent figure in the Line of the Imam faction, he played an active role in the mullahs' terrorist schemes and activities.