Briton’s Rushdie Stance Leads Iran to Seek Ties

Iran said Saturday that recent remarks by British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd about author Salman Rushdie have met Tehran’s requirements for restoring diplomatic ties with London.

Tehran Radio said that a meeting of the National Security Council urged the Foreign Ministry to work toward establishing normal links with Britain.

Iran’s late leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, ordered Muslims in February of last year to kill Rushdie, saying he had blasphemed Islam in his novel “The Satanic Verses.”

Tehran broke ties with London a month later when the British government refused to bow to Iranian demands that it condemn Rushdie and his novel.

In London, the British Foreign Office said it had noted the Saturday report with interest.

“Nevertheless, obstacles to better relations remain. We are looking for a substantive gesture of goodwill from the Iranian authorities,” a spokesman said.

Government sources said the “obstacles” referred to the detention in Iran of British businessman Roger Cooper and the fate of British hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

In a letter to a fellow member of Parliament, made public Wednesday, Hurd expressed respect for Islam and said “The Satanic Verses” is offensive to Muslims.

Rushdie has been in hiding since Khomeini’s religious edict. The decision to restore ties would have no effect on the order.