Back to Brief on Iran
Almost exactly one year ago, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called on Iran to work with the U.S. on "a road map leading to normal relations."
Tear up that map.
The Iranian government has held at least 13 Jews ... incommunicado for months in a high-security prison. Earlier this month, Iran announced that the Jewish prisoners are charged with spying for the U.S. and Israel - and will be executed if (read: when) found guilty ...
In Iran, teaching Hebrew is a crime. Jewish schools are banned and the Jewish newspaper, serving a community of 27,000, was recently closed after it criticized the government. There has been no letup in such discrimination since the election of "moderate" President Mohammed Khatami ...
... And as CIA Director George Tenet noted earlier this year, "We have yet to see any significant reduction in Iran's support of terrorism."
There are some suggestions that the spy charges may be part of a political tug-of-war between Khatami and Iran's still-formidable fundamentalist clerics. But if Khatami still has not solidified his political position, then the Clinton administration's bid for a rapprochement with Tehran cannot hope to bear fruit.
And even Khatami's "liberalism" can be seen as such only when he is compared to his political rivals. The Iranian president courts the Hezbollah terrorists and refers to Israel in the same hateful, rejectionist terms ("occupied Palestinian territory") as Iran's other (non-"liberal") Islamic clerics.
Whether Iran truly is prepared to rejoin
the family of nations is a long-range problem - although this latest incident
should serve as a slap in the face to those in Washington who favor new
overtures to Tehran ...
Hamas Member Lauds Khatami's Stance Against Peace Process, IRNA (State News Agency), June 22
DAMASCUS—Member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas), Musa Abu-Marzooq, lauding Iran's stances toward Palestine issue said the stances indicate it is feeling responsible toward Muslim countries' interests.
In an interview published by the monthly
magazine Palestine-al Moslem, he referred to the recent meeting
between president Mohammad Khatami of Iran and Palestinian parties and
groups in Damascus...
Tehran Street Gets New Mural Of Sadat Assassin, Reuters, June 18
TEHRAN - Hard-liners on Friday unveiled a mural in honor of the assassin of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, in an open challenge to moves by Tehran to improve ties with the big Moslem Arab country.
Cairo has long let it be known that better relations were impossible as long as Tehran continued to honor Islambouli, and the mural appeared a direct attempt to halt a gradual warming in diplomatic rhetoric.
Around 200 "Hezbollahis," turned up
at the ceremony. "Hezbollahis will die before they accept compromise" they
chanted. "
Chief of Khatami's Appointed Body Says "Foreigners" Behind Political killings, Associated Press, June 22
DUBAI—Foreigners trying to tarnish Iran's image aided in a string of murders late last year of dissident intellectuals, the military prosecutor said Tuesday.
"We have evidence and confessions that foreign hands were involved in the killings," Niyazi, who heads the investigation into the killings of five dissident writers and intellectuals, told Tehran radio. The broadcast was monitored in Dubai.
"We cannot say more because the investigations are not over. But the aim of the murders was to start infighting among the different political groups in the country and to tarnish the image of the Islamic Republic," Niyazi said.
Niyazi's comments Monday marked the most direct official accusation of foreign involvement.
Niyazi warned newspapers not to try and muddy the waters.
"We urge newspapers to exercise prudence,"
he said. "Otherwise, first we will warn them and then take legal action
against them."
Iranian Man Flogged, Reuters, June 22
TEHRAN—A young man was given 20 lashes of the whip in a conservative religious city in Iran for wearing make-up, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old was arrested by police in the