Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Baszn Öz<strong>et</strong>i<br />
Toward Normal Links B<strong>et</strong>ween Iran and<br />
By Stanley A. Weiss America<br />
T EHRAN - What do the presi<strong>de</strong>nt<br />
and foreign minister of Iran have in<br />
common withthe presi<strong>de</strong>nt' and secr<strong>et</strong>ary<br />
of state of the United States?<br />
They all want ildialogue.<br />
Mohammed Khatami wants to establish<br />
a ."thoughtful" dialogue;<br />
Kamal Kharrazi, one that at is "constructive.<br />
"Bill Clinton wants it to be<br />
"honest"; Ma<strong>de</strong>leine Albright, to be<br />
"direct.'~ And the European Union has<br />
now agreed toa dialogue that is<br />
"open" rather than "critical." ..<br />
But A. N. S.. Khamooshi, head of<br />
Iran's state-supported Chamber of<br />
Commerce, told me when I began my<br />
visit: "Forg<strong>et</strong> dialogue. L<strong>et</strong>'s do business."<br />
To an American businessman,<br />
that soun<strong>de</strong>d very promising.<br />
The problem has.been that when I try<br />
to discuss .specifics, I hear the same<br />
mantra from almost every Iranian I me<strong>et</strong><br />
~ top government officials, opposition<br />
lea<strong>de</strong>rs, professionals,' economists,<br />
journalists, conservatives and mo<strong>de</strong>rates,<br />
including those who spent time in<br />
the.shah's and the ayatollahs' prisons.<br />
It goes like this: Just as Presi<strong>de</strong>nt<br />
Khatamiexpressed regr<strong>et</strong> over the<br />
seizure of American hostages in 1979,<br />
Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Clinton must apologize' for<br />
the part the United Sta~s played in<br />
overthrowing the Mossa<strong>de</strong>gh regime in<br />
1953 and bringing back the shah.<br />
Surprising as it may seem in a country<br />
where half the male population is<br />
too young to shave, the coup that took.<br />
place almost half a century ago is a fresh<br />
memory, and ~..national obsession.<br />
Iranians feel like a woman <strong>de</strong>ceived.<br />
The United States had been a hero since<br />
the beginnmg of the century for its anticoloniàliststance,<br />
and a savior immediately<br />
after World War II for hel~<br />
ing g<strong>et</strong> the Russians out of Iran. But m<br />
1951 Mohammed Mossa<strong>de</strong>gh, an anti-<br />
Communist nationalist, became prime<br />
minister and nationalized<br />
Iranian Oil Company.<br />
the Anglo-<br />
. .<br />
At the urging of political mullahs<br />
and British intelligence, the CIA<br />
served as paymaster to help overthrow<br />
Mossa<strong>de</strong>gh and reinstall the shah. The<br />
line from that event in 1953 to the'<br />
taking of thé U.S. hostages in 1979 runs<br />
straight and true in the minds of practically<br />
every Iranian I speak to ..<br />
Americ/UlS seem equally stuck in<br />
time. The fact is that the Islamic "revolution<br />
for export" died on June 3,<br />
1989, and is buried along with Ayatollah<br />
Ruhollah Khomeini. Today Iran<br />
hasa presi<strong>de</strong>nt who speaks openly for<br />
the rule of law, a civil soci<strong>et</strong>y based on<br />
the constitution, and individual rights<br />
for allIranians.<br />
. He was elected by 70 percent of the<br />
electorate, 90 percent of whom voted<br />
last May. He IS resisted by Ayatollah<br />
Sayed Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme<br />
lea<strong>de</strong>r. Buttheir "good mullah, bad<br />
mullah" partnership seems to be workiilg..<br />
It is time that the United States<br />
began to readjust it policies based on<br />
this new reality.<br />
Unfortunately, the Iranian economy is<br />
"sick," as Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Khatami said recently.<br />
The state controls 85 percent of<br />
an economic system that is rirismanaged,<br />
bloated, over-regulated and corrupt. The'.<br />
budg<strong>et</strong> policies of the Parliament are<br />
.subject to the final say-so of a mullahdominated<br />
Council ofGuardians. .<br />
It is as if the U.S. Supreme Court,<br />
ma<strong>de</strong> up mernbersof the Moral Majori~.'<br />
had to .approve congressional<br />
<strong>de</strong>clSlons. One doesn't have to be an<br />
ayatollah to kri.owthat thisdoesn 't have<br />
a prayer of working~<br />
Worse, 80 percent of the government's<br />
hard currency earnings and 70<br />
percent of its revenues com~ from oil<br />
exports, and world oil prices have<br />
dropped to the lowest levels in a <strong>de</strong>ca<strong>de</strong>.<br />
The rial has'gone from 70 to the dollar at<br />
the time of the 1978 revolution to a<br />
. mark<strong>et</strong> rate today of more than5,OOO.<br />
Half the population lives below the<br />
poverty line. At least half of young<br />
Iranians are unemployed or un<strong>de</strong>remployed.<br />
Annual inflation is 50 percent,<br />
.more than twice the official rate.<br />
And then there are the semi-gov- .<br />
ernmental ' 'foundations. " These financial<br />
organizations,purportedly<br />
charitable and run mostly by merchanttra<strong>de</strong>rs,<br />
operate at le~t. 750 companies<br />
and command ass<strong>et</strong>s second only to<br />
those of the state. Much of their profits<br />
go to high-rankipg government officials<br />
and clerics.<br />
Y<strong>et</strong> of the 120,000 mullahs, 95 percent<br />
confine themselves to religious,<br />
not political, pursuits.You can tell who<br />
they are; they' ri<strong>de</strong>. on buses, not in<br />
chauffeur-driven limousines.<br />
In 10 days in Tehran, Isfahan and<br />
Shiraz, I have not seen a mugger or a<br />
beggar, or anyone looking remotely like<br />
the homeless people I see when I walk<br />
down Connecticut Avenue in Washington.<br />
The wi<strong>de</strong> stre<strong>et</strong>s are ciëan anà<br />
free of potholes. Iranian family values'<br />
. would make the most <strong>de</strong>vout Christian<br />
or Jewish fundamentalist proud.<br />
The literacy rate among Iranians un<strong>de</strong>r<br />
.30 is an astounding 93 percent.<br />
Unlike Islamic countries like Saudi<br />
Arabia, where women cannot drive or :<br />
vote, Iran does not write off half of its<br />
population: Iranian women are doctors,<br />
lawyers, teachers, psychologists - and<br />
vice Presi<strong>de</strong>nt. Daughters of Ayatollah .<br />
Khainenei and former Presi<strong>de</strong>nt'<br />
Hashemi Rafsanjani are feminists. .<br />
Iran is of enormous strategic im- .<br />
portance to the United States. Sixtyfour<br />
percent of the world's known oil<br />
reserves lie below and around the Gulf. .<br />
This most populous nation in the'<br />
Middle East has the second largest nat~<br />
ural gas reserves in the world.<br />
. And there is the Caspiari Sea, .with<br />
potential oil and gas reserves worth as<br />
much as $4 trillion. The shortest and<br />
cheapest pipeline route to the Gulf and<br />
to Western mark<strong>et</strong>s runs through Iran.<br />
Containment is no longer U.S. policy<br />
toward China, whose record on human<br />
rightsand the proliferation of weapons<br />
of mass <strong>de</strong>struction has been criminal.<br />
So why does the United States continue<br />
to try to "contain"Iran?<br />
Whatever the rationale for a hard-line<br />
policy ~uring the 1980s, today it only<br />
ISOlates the United States and Israel.<br />
America should lift its tra<strong>de</strong> embargo<br />
and repeal its secondary sanctions on<br />
non-U.S. companies that invest in Iran.<br />
This would be a blow to the reactionary<br />
forces which at present control almost<br />
all of Iran' s domestic income.<br />
They would like nothing b<strong>et</strong>ter than<br />
for the United States to continue ils<br />
current p