Reuters, January 11 - … Kharrazi's visit was marked by protests by Iranian opposition movements calling for the downfall of Khatami's government and by Jewish groups demonstrating in support of 13 Jews charged in Iran with spying for Israel.

Kharrazi complained to Cook at their talks on Monday evening when dozens of Iranian opposition members chanted protests just a few yards outside Cook's official residence where the two ministers were meeting, a member of his delegation said.

A spokesman for the National Council of Resistance said it was third time in two days that its supporters had pelted Kharrazi's car.

Agence France Presse, January 11 - Egg-throwing Iranian dissidents hounded Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi on the second day of his visit to Britain on Tuesday.

Dissidents insist that Kharazi and Mohammed Khatami are guilty of severe human rights abuses in Iran, including repression, torture and spurious imprisonment.

Laila Jazayeri, spokeswoman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said British Foreign Secretary "Robin Cook says that human rights is at the center of his foreign policy but they are sacrificing human rights by shaking hands with these people.

Associated Press, January 11 - Winding up a two-day visit dogged by demonstrators, Iran's foreign minister said that the United States has isolated itself while his country's relations improve with West European nations.

U.S. critics regard the overtures by Britain and other European Union nations as premature, contending that Iran sponsors terrorist groups, seeks to undermine Israel-Syria peace talks and denounces Israel. Answering questions at the institute meeting, Kharazzi made a fresh attack on Israel.
 

Anti-Khatami Demonstrations in Germany if He Comes: MP, Agence France Presse, January 11

TEHRAN - Germany hopes to welcome Mohammad Khatami, but Iran must realize that there could be demonstrations against him, a senior German member of parliament told journalists here Tuesday.

"The invitation is still open, and we hope the visit will be a success," said Hans Ulrich Klose, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament.

"But the Iranians must be aware of German public opinion," Klose added, recalling demonstrations against Khatami during his recent visits to France and Italy.
 

British Hopes For Iran May Be Unfounded, The Times of London, January 10

Tony Blair and Robin Cook will today roll out the red carpet for the Foreign Minister of an ill-ruled country which, in the assessment of Western Intelligence, is actively stepping up its sponsorship of the terrorist organizations… who want to sabotage the Middle East peace process. To have invited Kamal Kharazi - who on December 29 denounced Israel as a "cancerous entity" which should never be "legitimized" - … might… be thought ill-timed…

The problem is that Iran's foreign policy is as divided as its domestic politics. Mr. Khatami… is not the master in the Iranian house… Mr. Khatami is almost certainly powerless… although he must bear responsibility for the words of his own Foreign Minister - which are inexcusable even if they are primarily intended for the Iranian establishment's consumption.

Not only is Mr. Khatami powerless over Iran's activities in the Middle East, but he is having trouble holding his ground on the domestic front. He speaks eloquently of the need for accountable government, an open civil society and the rule of law; but he seems powerless to protect those who heed him. Vigilantes who murdered students in Tehran last July have been arrested, but so have leaders of the student protests that followed… Yet publishers and editors are being hounded through special courts where they have no hope of a fair trial. The Jewish community…, has been traumatized by a string of arrests. Reformers swept the board in local elections last year; but municipal councils have been deprived of money and power.

Mr. Khatami himself has become increasingly defensive… After 21 years, the Islamic revolution is buttressed by vested interests as wealthy as they are corrupt; and he may fear that Ayatollah Khamenei's power over the religious courts and the apparatus of terror could yet prove decisive.

Or he may be biding his time, hoping that next month's parliamentary elections will deliver the backing he needs to deliver the political freedoms and economic reforms Iranians want and need. But that assumes that Mr. Khatami is really the reformer the West hopes he is. The constraints on him have allowed him the benefit of the doubt. His economic ideas are vague, but not discernibly liberal; his readiness for true political liberalization is untested. Of East-West arms control, Ronald Reagan famously said: "Trust, but verify." With Iran, a dangerous place, British ministers would do well to verify before they think of trust.
 

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