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Iran dampens the hopes of betters relations { January 1 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/31/1072546588328.html?from=storyrhshttp://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/31/1072546588328.html?from=storyrhs
Iran dampens US hopes of better relations
By Neil MacFarquhar in Bam
January 1, 2004
Iran's President, Mohammad Khatami, has welcomed the arrival of a US aid team in the earthquake-ravaged city of Bam but warned that the gesture should not be viewed as a harbinger of improving relations between his country and the US.
"Humanitarian issues should not be intertwined with deep and chronic political problems," Mr Khatami said on Tuesday. "If we see a change both in the tone and behaviour of the US Administration, then a new situation will develop in our relations."
In Washington, the Bush Administration said the contact between Iran and the US during earthquake relief was one of several recent positive developments.
"We reached out to the Iranians," Adam Ereli, a State Department spokesman said. "We offered our assistance. That offer was accepted, and I don't think you can see that as anything but a positive development for the people of Iran."
Some policy experts said that there is now room for manoeuvring, a chance to transcend the "axis of evil" and "great Satan" labels that each country has stuck on the other. Mr Khatami also said that the death toll from the quake may reach 40,000, while others estimated the toll could reach 50,000.
A disaster of such scope can create an opportunity for conversations that otherwise might not have taken place, the experts said.
The brief transit of about 12 US humanitarian workers through the damaged airport terminal in Bam caused a frisson of excitement. Iranian relief volunteers asked to have their pictures taken with the visiting workers when they heard they were Americans.
The Americans insisted that there was nothing political or particularly unusual in their presence.
In 1981, 52 American hostages were released from 444 days in captivity at the US embassy in Tehran. Relations, severed then, have never really improved.
When asked if he had any qualms about being here, Kevin Garvey, a medical technician from Boston, said "none whatsoever" - words echoed by several men behind him.
"This is what we do," added Mr Garvey, who is part of a team expecting to establish a field hospital in Bam. "I am totally apolitical when it comes to doing my duties."
Mr Khatami said at a news conference that the US needed to assuage Iranian fears before relations could move forward. "They must attract our confidence, and that requires resolving our differences," he said.
"They must respect our sovereignty. They keep on saying that they want to overthrow the Islamic Republic. We have not seen good intentions. We hope that the US will change its behaviour so that this wall of mistrust will break."
Washington has swung in recent years between trying to engage Iran and treating it as an outcast. Iran recently agreed to more wide-ranging international inspection of its nuclear research facilities. It insists the facilities are for peaceful purposes.
Iran has also voiced support for the US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein, who launched an eight-year war across the Iran-Iraq border. But Iran has has urged a speedy US withdrawal from Iraq.
Iranian officials said they were revising the status of about 600 prisoners missing since their escape from an earthquake-damaged jail in Bam last week to "on leave". A spokesman for the judiciary told IRNA news agency that prisoners from the stricken area whose relatives were hurt or killed in Friday's quake may be given amnesty.
The New York Times, Agence France-Presse, Reuters
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/31/1072546588328.html
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