Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991 TAG: 9103140461
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: The Washington Post and Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The latest offer for unconditional talks, to which Iran reportedly has not responded, reflects public statements by President Bush and other officials seeking improved relations with the government in Tehran. While the president Wednesday warned Iran not to take advantage of the current unrest in Iraq to seize territory there, aides here affirmed the administration's readiness to pursue discussions with Iranian officials.
"The president has often expressed a willingness to talk with Iran to discuss release of hostages held in Lebanon and other issues," an administration official said.
Bush, in an interview with Arab reporters on Friday, reiterated his interest in "better relations with Iran," adding: "We have no animosity. . . . I don't think they should be treated forever as enemies by all the countries in the region."
Iran has repeatedly rebuffed U.S. feelers.
Nonetheless, U.S. officials and academic analysts say Iran's actions during and since the gulf war, coupled with a series of political victories over religious hard-liners in Iran by the more pragmatic Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, have significantly advanced the prospects for improved U.S.-Iranian relations.
U.S. officials have given Iran credit for keeping a damper on potential international terrorist activity during the gulf crisis. Authorities in Tehran also kept their word to ground an estimated 137 Iraqi planes that took refuge in Iran during the war.
Concerned now about being left out of new postwar security arrangements in the gulf, Iran appears to be focused more on rebuilding its economy than spreading an Islamic revolution, analysts say. "They feel they should have a place at the table and a say" in postwar security arrangements, said Shaul Bahkash, an expert on Iran.
Bush, asked Wednesday at a news conference in Ottawa if he were concerned that Iran might attempt to seize territory in Iraq, said there was no evidence of such a land grab but added, "Iran knows our view . . . that grabbing territory would be counterproductive, and I could take this opportunity to suggest that that would be the worst thing they could do."
Bush also said that he's eager to ask French President Francois Mitterrand what role he envisions for Yasser Arafat after the Palestinian leader chose "the wrong side" in the war against Iraq.
France has often steered its own course toward the Arab world, to the chagrin of Washington. But it was an integral part of the coalition that drove Iraq from Kuwait, "and President Mitterrand led the way," Bush said.
Bush left the Canadian capital today for Martinique and the talks with Mitterrand.
It is the second stop on Bush's five-day postwar journey to meet with key allied leaders. He will meet British Prime Minister John Major in Bermuda on Saturday.
At the news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Bush criticized Iraq for using helicopters to quash rebels seeking to overthrow Saddam Hussein's government. "Do not do this," he warned.
Iraq today denied reports of continuing clashes between loyalist troops and rebels in Baghdad, but opposition spokesmen reported intense fighting in both northern and southern Iraq.
"Fabricated, baseless and completely unfounded" was how the official Iraqi News Agency termed reports of heavy fighting in the capital Wednesday.
Iran's official Tehran radio, monitored in Nicosia, had reported clashes between government forces and demonstrators that left many dead in Baghdad.
by CNB