Marwan Asmar: Khatami's Middle East tour augurs well for the region

<a href=www.gulf-news.com>Gulf News Online, Dubai |  | 20-05-2003

The visit of the Iranian president to the region speaks volumes for the potential changes that the area  may be facing in the very near future. Mohammed Khatami's tour of four Arab states - Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain - is significant, coming as it does immediately after the war on Iraq and the American occupation of the country.

Not wanting to face the same fate as Iraq and its old regime, Iran and its "moderate" leadership are now even more keen to play the game of politics to reach a diplomatic solution vis-à-vis the United States. Dubbed as one of the "axis of evil" powers in early 2002, Iran, under Khatami, is trying to avoid confrontation with Washington by attempting to steer a middle-of-road course for the country.

The rapid changes in the geopolitical arena in the last couple of months and the installation of American troops right on her very doorstep is making Iran nervous at being "encircled" by U.S. forces.

Iranians are seeing that the "regime change" applied to Iraq could very  well become a realistic option if the biggest power in the world feels it needs to flex its muscles even further.

That's why the 61-year-old president, who is a reformist by nature, and despite the conservative elements in his country who continually seek to put the brakes on his more liberal policies - is taking no chances. He has repeatedly said Iran does not have weapons of mass destruction and that its current nuclear and biological weapons programme is for humanitarian purposes only.

Because of the new and tense international situation, Khatami now wants to use his reputed political and diplomatic acumen to arrive at some kind of an understanding with the United States and not give it the pretext to attack his country.

Despite the acknowledged meetings between U.S. and Iranian officials  - a situation that goes back to America's war in Afghanistan - Tehran continues to flinch at U.S. intentions in light of the fact that relations with America have been cut off since the 1978 Iranian Revolution.

And so his regional visit must be seen in the context of trying to project a more moderate image and to take stands and stances not previously expected.

Despite supporting liberation movements, Hezbollah and the Palestinian issue, Khatami, for instance, has repeatedly said his country is against terrorism and does not condone it.

While commentators may have initially suggested his visit to Lebanon and Syria was intended to beef up his country's support to these states vis-à-vis Israel and the U.S., and underlines its relationship with Hezbollah, Khatami has tried to deflect the innuendos levelled at his country of supporting terrorism.

He stressed, for instance, that his country's support for Hezbollah is no more than symbolic, an organisation dubbed as "terrorist" by the U.S.

During his three-day trip to Lebanon, he was quoted as urging restraint. "From his public statements [he] implicitly urged the resistance to abstain from giving the U.S. any reason to act against Hezbollah or countries supporting the resistance," wrote the Lebanese The Daily Star. "Tehran's support to the resistance is more of a moral nature," one Iranian source explained and "does not involve giving any direct orders [to Hezbollah] of any kind".

Since his election as president in 1997, Khatami has tried to steer his country on a moderate course, slowly moving away from the revolutionary rhetoric of the 1980s which was an extension of the 1978 revolution. He has the ability to weave together the Islamic ideals of the state with pragmatism and belief in the over-encompassing term of cultural politics.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he was involved in the press and, as a minister of culture, chaired the "War Propaganda Headquarters" during the Iran-Iraq war and later served as a member of the "High Council for Cultural Revolution."

Could this have stood him in good stead, especially when he became president? As recognised by a lot of people around the globe such as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela, Khatami proved to be a different kind of "Islamic politician". He is slick and modern; not the archetypal kind.

He might be banking on these qualities to steer him through the shaky regional and international system.

His trip to Bahrain is seen as further emphasis of Iran's return to the traditional, pragmatic form of diplomacy in the form of normal relations between states.

His visit is particularly significant since it opens up a new chapter in relations with the two countries. These have been effectively frozen since the early 1980s. It is also a signal to the rest of the Arab world about fostering new relations, especially since Bahrain holds the presidency of the Arab League, and of the fact that the country is a major Western ally.

In that respect also, Khatami might be recognising the "winds of change" in the area and of realignments and the imposition of external powers.

This week's visit is the first by an Iranian leader in 25 years, which means Khatami is not only determined to establish better relations in the region but also recognises the new status quo with the end of the old regime in Baghdad, while stressing that the United States must not continue to stay as an occupying power.

His Majesty Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, visited Tehran last August, the first in over two decades.

Rather than indulging in diplomatic niceties, something that is rare in today's harsh political realities, Khatami, a scholar, who studied at Qom, the country's highest religious education centre, has turned out to be a shrewd tactician, rather than merely sticking to the precepts of Islam. He has a BA and an MA.

He is a popular politician who received 70 per cent of the votes. He is outgoing, charming, easy to talk to and travels on public buses. This is something not expected from a man brought up in the strict religious institutions of his country, that were later to serve as the basis of the Iranian Revolution.

This, however, doesn't lessen his "Islamic fervour" - it merely shows the religious leader-turned-politician as someone with cold logic who is prepared to understand the dangers of a unipolar world and deal with it.

This stems from his own personal philosophy of "opening up" and detente, a characteristic and an essential part of Iran's foreign policy.

His popularity was extended abroad during his many trips overseas. He has visited China, Russia, France, Germany, Venezuela, Cuba and Japan, among others. His European trips started from Italy in 1999, where he spoke to the Italian parliament and had an audience with the Pope-thus stressing his belief in religious tolerance-and delivered a lecture at the University of Florence.

In the Arab world, relations between Iran and the rest of the region became much more warm and cordial, with trips either by Khatami or his Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, to various countries in the region. Contacts were established in Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia - Khatami personally visited the Kingdom - and the GCC countries.

Even on the dispute with the United Arab Emirates over the three islands which Iran occupies, Khatami told Sheikh Hamad in Manama on this latest visit that he is prepared to settle the issue peacefully with the UAE.

It is these factors built over the last couple of years which Iran might be banking on in the new strategic relations in the region. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has recently said America has no intention of attacking Iran but, with different views coming out of Washington, his statement can be interpreted one way or the other.