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Prominent Iranian exile rejects new U.S. Iran policy

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, October 6, 2000

WASHINGTON — The United States has launched a new policy that plays down Iran's missile and nonconventional weapons threats as part of an effort to encourage reformist elements in Teheran.

U.S. officials said the policy seeks to positively encourage Iran towards any gesture of cooperation with Washington. They said Clinton administration spokespeople, including those in the Pentagon, have been directed to change their rhetoric toward the Islamic republic.

But the exiled Iranian leader of the Azadegan nationalist organization told the Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily most Iranians oppose the U.S. option of granting credibility to the clerics in charge of the Iranian regime.

"In fact, the one thing which could turn the Iranian people against the U.S. would be if Clinton helped reinforce clerical represssion of Iran," said Dr. Assad Homayoun.

"The answer to Iran's problems, to its lack of freedom, and to its 12-million unemployed, is not to legitimize the perpetuators of the problem," he said. "The answer lies in removing the cancer instead of propping it up. Only then can we achieve freedom for the people of Iran, peace with Iran's neighbors, and and an end to the terrorism in Lebanon and Israel and elsewhere."

In the latest step, U.S. defense officials said Iran has cooperated in stopping ships from smuggling oil out of Iraq in violation of United Nations sanctions. Earlier, some of the same officials said Iran was in partnership with Iraq in smuggling the oil and pocketing the profits.

Pentagon spokesman Craig Quigley said U.S. naval ships are foiling fewer efforts to smuggle oil from Iraq through the Persian Gulf. Quigley said U.S. vessels have stopped only five ships in September.

"We attribute that to the Iranian government being more restrictive in the use of its territorial waters to allow smuggling to take place." the Pentagon spokesman said. "And for that we're very, very appreciative."

The new policy, U.S. officials said, stems from an assessment that the Islamic republic is being changed by reformers close to President Mohammed Khatami. They said that focusing on Iranian missiles of nuclear weapons programs would only result in siege mentality in Teheran.

The result, they said, was that Pentagon officials said little about last month's launch of Iran's Shihab-3 missile. That launch was reported to have failed when the engine broke down 100 seconds within flight.

U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Holum failed to mention Iran in an address on arms control and nonproliferation in Washington last week. Holum did raise the North Korean missile threat as well as Russia and China.

Another reason, officials said, is that highlighting Iran's missile threat would serve critics of President Bill Clinton's decision to suspend deployment of the National Missile Defense system. Clinton said his successor should make that decision.

"I got told to cool my jets on speaking out against Iran," Gen. Anthony Zinni, former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Central Command told the Washington Post last week. "Their intelligence service is targeting us. They continue to produce weapons of mass destruction. There's too much to be done still."

Friday, October 6, 2000

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