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Iran Says U.S. Aid Won’t Help Relations
BAM, Iran (AP) - As survivors of Iran’s earthquake scavenged for clothes and jostled for handouts Tuesday, President Mohammad Khatami thanked the United States for aid but played down talk that Washington’s contribution would thaw frosty relations. ``Humanitarian issues should not be intertwined with deep and chronic political problems,’’ Khatami said. ``If we see change both in tone and behavior of the U.S. administration, then a new situation will develop in our relations.’’
Is it some requirement that Muslim leaders have to be ungrateful?
Khatami’s remarks came after Secretary of State Colin Powell said he sees a ``new attitude’’ in Iran that could lead to a restoration of ties between the United States and the Islamic republic that President Bush has called part of an ``axis of evil.’’ ``There are things happening, and therefore we should keep open the possibility of dialogue at an appropriate point in the future,’’ Powell was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s Washington Post.
It’d be nice to re-open the embassy. We can help the dissidents and opponents of the regime much better with our people on the ground in Tehran -- tusk, tusk, did I just say that?
Iranian leaders have agreed to permit unannounced sham inspections of the country’s nuclear energy program and made overtures to less-extremist moderate Arab governments. They also accepted an offer of U.S. humanitarian aid after last week’s devastating magnitude-6.6 earthquake. ``All of those things taken together show, it seems to me, a new attitude in Iran in dealing with these issues - not one of total, open generosity, Powell said. ``But they realize that the world is watching and the world is prepared to take action.’’
Apparently they noticed the big stick, just like Q-duck noticed.
In the latest U.S. shipment, an American military plane carrying 80 personnel and medical supplies landed early Tuesday in the provincial capital of Kerman. The team reached Bam, 120 miles to the southeast, by midday. Seven U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo planes have already delivered 150,000 pounds of relief supplies - including blankets, medical supplies and water - making the United States one of the largest international donors.
The Iranian people seem to be figuring this out much better than the black turbans.
Powell tempered his comments about the possibility of restored ties, adding that ``we still have concerns about terrorist activities, of course, and there are other issues with respect to al-Qaida and other matters that we’ll have to keep in mind.’’
Giving us real-time GPS coordinates on the Hezbollah leadership would help.
Still, Russia’s Foreign Ministry was quick to welcome Powell’s remarks, saying it ``may become a positive impulse for the movement toward the normalization of relations between these countries. ``In our view, this in turn could promote the strengthening of international security,’’ ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement.
Who cares what you think?
Posted by: Steve White 2003-12-31
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=23589