Iran Refuses to Take a Stand on U.N. Peace Call

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday that he will cooperate with the U.N. secretary general in seeking peace in the Persian Gulf, but he refused to take a stand on a Security Council resolution calling for an end to the nearly seven-year-old Iran-Iraq War.

The Iranian ambassador, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, met for 35 minutes with U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, who said earlier in the day that Iraq had accepted the resolution for peace in the gulf.

“We will cooperate with the secretary general,” Rajaie-Khorassani told reporters after the meeting. He added, however, that “we are not accepting or rejecting” the resolution.

Rajaie-Khorassani, who relayed Iran’s position as received from Tehran, said there were aspects of the resolution that his government disliked, but he did not specify them.

Perez de Cuellar met earlier with delegates of the council’s 15-member nations on his efforts to carry out the resolution, which was sponsored by Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union and the United States and adopted unanimously on July 20.

The resolution calls for Iran and Iraq to stop their war, withdraw their forces to their own boundaries, release prisoners of war and cooperate with the U.N. secretary general in bringing about peace, but it falls short of sanctions.

Delegates from various countries heard a report Tuesday from Perez de Cuellar on his contacts with the U.N. permanent missions of Iran and Iraq.

“Nothing can be done without the political will of both parties,” he told reporters later. “I think what will be crucial is the answer of our Iranian friends.”

Perez de Cuellar was asked whether tension had risen in the Persian Gulf region because of the United States’ reflagging of Kuwaiti oil tankers.

He replied: “I think that, so far, the reflagging of the ships has not really increased the tension in the gulf, but we will have to wait and see.”

Tehran accuses Kuwait of aiding the Iraqi war effort. Iran’s fundamentalist leaders have said they will not negotiate for peace unless Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is removed.