Iran Leader Vows to Resist U.S. Reconciliation

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran has given his toughest anti-American speech in years, vehemently condemning rapprochement with the United States in an attempt to halt the growing policy debate on the issue within the new Iranian government.

Khamenei, in a speech Wednesday to Iranian students, declared that the nation’s “destiny” now depends on resisting recent suggestions that Iran change its long-standing policy toward the United States. He specifically ruled out compromise on three critical issues that Washington views as essential to reconciliation: Iranian opposition to Middle East peace, its support of groups viewed in the West as extremist and its programs that the U.S. fears are developing weapons of mass destruction.

In the United States, the remarks drew a mixture of alarm and disappointment from government officials and private analysts who had seen reason for hope in the upset election six months ago of President Mohammad Khatami, a reform-minded former culture minister, over a ranking hard-liner backed by Khamenei.

Since the election, Tehran and Washington have toned down their rhetoric and talked publicly of a new interest in dialogue--the most serious diplomatic probing in a decade. “I would very much like it if they would take a different course,” President Clinton said last week.

After reading a translation of Khamenei’s speech, a senior U.S. official noted Thursday that the angry language was just the kind of talk Washington hoped had ended. “It’s not conducive to a change in the diplomatic environment,” he said. “Quite the contrary.”

The timing also was bad, as U.S. tension is mounting with neighboring Iraq. The U.S. hopes to reduce flash points in the resource-rich region by forcing Iraq to surrender its deadliest weapons and by gradually charting a new course with Iran.

But experts contended that Khamenei’s intended audience is Iran’s new government as much as the United States. Khamenei lashed out at “rumormongers” and “U.S. agents” who are now saying that, if the country “were to resume ties or even start talks with the United States, all our problems would disappear.” He called those suggestions nonsense.

Khamenei also cited Koranic verses to urge students to “resist U.S. oppression,” a throwback to tactics and terms used in the years immediately after the 1979 revolution. “The destiny of future generations depends on this issue,” Khamenei said.

“The only solution for nations of the world is to learn a lesson from Iran and stand against the bullying, power-seeking and dictatorship policies of the United States,” he added.

The speech was the sharpest element of what is developing into an internal struggle to define Iran’s future course.

In another speech this week marking the 18th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, parliamentary Speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri warned against “liberals” and against expecting Iran to make compromises toward the West. Nateq-Nuri, a Khamenei ally, is the candidate who lost the presidential race to Khatami in May.

“These are messages to Khatami, who has at the core of his foreign policy two pillars--detente and a dialogue with the world . . . including eventually the United States. It’s very clear that Khamenei is responding to that policy,” added an Iranian analyst.

Khamenei has effectively issued an internal warning--and drawn a new “red line” over which he insists that the new Khatami government should not cross, according to Shaul Bakhash, author of “The Reign of the Ayatollahs.”

“This makes it very difficult for the new president to pursue a foreign policy line in opposition to the supreme leader. And it strengthens the hand of those in parliament and among the clergy who oppose any softening,” Bakhash said.

Khamenei, who succeeded the late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, technically has the last word on any policy. But as either a religious or political leader, Khamenei lacks the same level of authority, credibility and popularity that Khomeini had.