Back to Brief on Iran
The State Department confirmed that the Clinton administration recently had a high-level communication with the government of Iran but declined to say what it was about.
The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan reported over the weekend that President Clinton had written Iranian President Mohammed Khatemi requesting that Iran extradite two people suspected of involvement in the 1996 truck bombing of the Khobar Towers housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 U.S. servicemen….
The newspaper said former Iranian president Ali Akbar Rafsanjani had urged Khatemi to respond by demanding the extradition of the captain of the USS Vincennes, the warship that accidentally shot down an Iranian airliner in 1988, killing 290 people.
Some Iran watchers speculated yesterday that the communication could be related to the Aug. 28 departure from Iran of 13 U.S. scholars who were urged to drop their research and return home immediately.
[In parts, the Al-Watan in its report said: "After Clinton expresses his respect for and trust of Khatami, and his hope for Khatami's ability and the reformist faction to lead the Iranian ship to safe shores, he states that his government has so far resisted all pressures brought on it by groups hostile to Iran, in Congress and other power centers [in the US] who are bent on forcing the US administration towards a clash with Iran in recent years.
["In his letter, Clinton also mentions that some people including, Madeline Albright, Secretary of State, and the President's National Security advisor Sandy Berger know about this letter, making it necessary to keep the letter secret in order to avoid any unnecessary outcries either in Congress and American media, or by hardliner rightists in Iran.
["According to the Iranian source Clinton
also included with his letter, documents and photos of certain alleged
terrorists, and members of revolutionary Islamic groups and organizations
in the region, who are believed to reside in Iran, among whom are two leaders
of a terrorist group, considered by the CIA and FBI as responsible for
the Dhahran bombing of US barracks."…]
Outraged From Weapons’ Sale to Iran, Congressional Leaders Blast Clinton's Russia Policy, Associated Press, September 14
WASHINGTON - In legislation aimed mainly at Russia, the House passed a measure Tuesday that would impose sanctions on countries helping Iran develop nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
The administration, in a statement, said the president's senior advisers would recommend he veto the bill. Clinton vetoed a similar bill last year.
The bill, sponsored by International Relations Committee Chairman Ben Gilman, R-N.Y., would require the president to report to Congress every six months on any transfer of material helping Iran's weapons program.
The president would have to cut off arms export licenses or U.S. economic assistance to any country involved in Iranian weapons proliferation unless he cited national security reasons for waiving the sanctions.
The CIA says Iran probably will develop
intercontinental ballistic missiles within 15 years. Both Russia and China
have provided conventional weapons to Iran, and there has long been concern
about possible smuggling of nuclear technology from Russia to Iran.
Judge Blocks Confiscation of Mullahs’ N.Y. Foundation, Associated Press, September 14
GREENBELT, Md. - Rosalyn and Stephen Flatow had sued the Iranian government for wrongful death in the killing of their daughter, Alisa, and in March 1998 won a judgment of $247.5 million.
Since then, however, the U.S. government has blocked the West Orange, N.J., family's attempts to seize diplomatic properties to cover the judgment.
In the latest attempt, the Flatows tried to seize three Maryland properties held by the Alavi Foundation, claiming the foundation was linked to Iran and that the properties were Iranian assets.
But U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams ruled last week that the Alavi Foundation is a nonprofit group organized under New York state law and that it is not controlled by the Iranian government.
The Alavi Foundation funds Islamic centers around the United States -- including a Brooklyn, N.Y., mosque where a frequent preacher was Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, later convicted in the World Trade Center bombing.
The foundation -- formerly called the Mostazafan Foundation of New York -- denies any connection to Iran or its government-run Mostazafan Foundation.
However, Vince Cannistraro, a former top CIA counter-terrorism official, has said the two organizations are "the same, under different names."