WASHINGTON: Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami enters the fray between Iran and the United States in an unprecedented US visit fraught with risks for two countries in a showdown over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
American officials hope the visit, expected to begin on Friday, will force Khatami to answer tough questions as the nuclear crisis escalates, but some experts say it could help Tehran’s campaign to avoid international sanctions.
The United States — engaged in a growing contest with Iran for influence in the Middle East even as its image is battered by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — gets to emphasize its strength as an open society willing to let even bitter adversaries speak freely, US officials and experts said.
Khatami, who advocates dialogue among civilizations, likely will portray what the West calls a softer Iran than successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while still defending Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, they added.
The visit “serves the administration’s purpose to have a chance to show we want to talk to reformers, to people who are seeking to build good bridges between Iran and the West,” said Ellen Laipson, a former US intelligence official who heads the Henry L. Stimson Center thinktank.
But some Iranian exiles, Jewish groups and US lawmakers are angry. Khatami will be the highest-profile Iranian to visit the United States since Washington cut ties after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“What message does Khatami’s welcome send to the former American hostages in Iran, to all US victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism, to Islamist terrorists such as Hizbollah, Hamas, Syria and other enemies of freedom, and to the Iranian people?” said Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida.
Some officials and experts see the visit as part of an Iranian diplomatic effort to defuse international unease about its nuclear programme by emphasizing a “moderate” voice.
It is not known whether Khatami might carry a message from Tehran or serve as a channel between the two governments.
Khatami is a cleric who was president from 1997 to 2005 but failed to deliver promised reforms. He retains respected status in Iran and access to leaders of the current government, experts said.
Initially invited to a UN meeting in New York on Sept 5 and 6, he also accepted offers from Americans in Chicago, Harvard University, University of Virginia and Washington.
Organizers of the Chicago-area event told reporters Khatami was expected to arrive on Friday.
Although US President George W. Bush has called Iran part of an “axis of evil” and accused it of pursuing nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorism, his administration gave Khatami an unrestricted visa.
“We were advised that he’ll talk about interfaith dialogue,” a senior US official told Reuters. The topic could underscore differences between Khatami and Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel’s destruction and pursued nuclear confrontation with the West, the official said.
US officials have urged anyone meeting Khatami to press him on the Iranian government’s behaviour on the nuclear issue, terrorism and the Middle East.
As the nuclear dispute worsened, Bush came under pressure to open direct talks with Iran. He agreed to join other major powers in negotiations, but only if Iran suspended uranium enrichment, which it refused to do by an Aug 31 UN deadline.
Bush insists Iran must face “consequences” and is pushing sanctions, an outcome Iran aims to thwart.—Reuters
