He added that with respect to Salman Rushdie's case, the regime's officials had repeated their previous positions and that there was no solution to the status quo. Rohan acknowledged that there is a long road ahead to normalize relations and that these talks were only the first step in a long trend to gradually improve ties.
For his part, Morteza Sarmadi, deputy foreign minister and the head of the regime's delegation said that no one in Iran "has the authority to rescind the fatwa against Rushdie" and the European Union has taken a political approach to the issue of human rights in Iran. He brazenly said: "The West must revise its view on freedom of speech."
The state controlled dailies and radio also reported that there were some doubts about the future of talks with the European Union.
These remarks display in no uncertain terms the failure of the trip to Tehran by the troika and its talks with the religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran and confirms that this medieval regime has no capacity for change or reform.
Prior to the trip by the EU delegation, the Iranian Resistance had stressed: "At a time when the death knells have begun to toll for the mullahs, this trip will prove fruitless and only encourage the regime to continue to violate human rights and export terrorism... A principled policy toward the Iranian regime requires rejecting any form of appeasement, exercising decisiveness vis-a-vis the ruling religious, terrorist dictatorship and recognizing the right of the Iranian people to resist against this medieval regime."
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 21, 1998
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