It’s much too early to know whether the inauguration of Mohammed Khatami as Iran’s president this weekend will open the door to a less antagonistic relationship between that country’s hard-line Islamist regime and the United States.
But the uncertainty over Khatami’s true world view and just how much power he will actually wield in a government still sclerotic with fundamentalist clerics should not discourage the Clinton administration from making a sincere effort to engage the new leadership.
The administration took a cautious step in that direction last week when it declined to block construction of a $1.6 billion natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Turkey that would run through Iran. The 2,000-mile-long pipeline would mark the first time Iran has participated in a major international energy project since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright insisted the decision did not mean the administration was any less committed to isolating Iran and starving it of investment. Last year, Clinton signed a controversial law mandating U.S. sanctions against foreign companies with large investments in Iran’s energy sector.
Given the strong anti-Iran mood in Congress and among some key U.S. allies in the Middle East, Albright had no choice but to play down the import of the pipeline gesture.
At the same time, however, she conceded that Khatami’s landslide election in May was “interesting” and “unexpected”–which, in diplomatic lingo, could be read as an invitation to Tehran to reciprocate with a positive signal of its own.
But the administration should not stop there. Khatami, an enlightened moderate by Iranian standards, won despite heavy opposition from the clique of narrow-minded mullahs who have exercised real power in Iran since the revolution. His victory showed that most Iranians have soured on the fundamentalist regime and yearn for sweeping reforms.
Washington should exploit this discontent by reaching out to Khatami with an offer of high-level talks. If his stated commitment to change extends beyond domestic affairs, a timely U.S. move could strengthen his hand against clerical conservatives, whose confidence must have been shaken by the election results.
For sure, there are huge obstacles to better ties. Washington is rightly outraged by Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism, its quest for nuclear weapons and its opposition to the Middle East peace process.
But while the effort to contain Iran may have blunted the threat to regional stability, the basic problems remain and are getting worse. Some experts fear Tehran could soon have nuclear weapons.
A different approach is clearly needed, and there may never be a better time to try.
