Clinton Encourages More Exchanges, Better Ties With Iran

President Clinton responded Thursday to a month’s worth of secret Iranian messages by calling for more exchanges between “our peoples” and heralding the day “when we can enjoy once again good relations with Iran.”

The warm, deliberate remarks, broadcast by the Voice of America in Persian and English to mark the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan, followed the relay of messages from Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to the White House, U.S. officials and Arab diplomats say.

The most recent, specific message was delivered last week in talks between Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Clinton. Arafat told Clinton and his top Mideast advisors that Khatami had asked him last month to tell the United States that the new Iranian president wants a phased resumption of diplomatic relations, Arafat told The Times.

Clinton’s response indicates that Washington, for the first time, is now intent on probing whether the new openness in Iran can result in a tangible improvement in relations--and end almost two decades of open hostility.

The president’s remarks follow Khatami’s launch earlier this month of a “dialogue” with the American people in an interview on the Cable News Network. The Iranian president, inaugurated in August after a stunning upset in elections, then called for U.S.-Iranian cultural exchanges. The first American visits to Tehran, including those of a U.S. wrestling team and several American academics, are to begin shortly after the Islamic Revolution’s 19th anniversary next month.

Pressed about subsequent public comments by Khatami that appeared to diminish the prospects of warmer relations, Arafat reaffirmed that the Iranian leader told him that he wants to restore “full diplomatic relations.”

In his reply, which was preceded by more than two weeks of wide debate in the White House and State Department, Clinton said differences in U.S. and Iranian policies are “not insurmountable.” He also said Washington “regrets the estrangement of our two nations.”

The language is the most conciliatory since the breaking of U.S.-Iranian relations after the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the taking of 52 American hostages.

At a White House briefing Thursday, Press Secretary Mike McCurry said the U.S. “recognizes and appreciates” the new tone Khatami has adopted in his public comments. However, he added, Washington has not agreed to formal exchanges. But he confirmed that Clinton’s latest remarks--including that Iran is an “important” country with a “rich” cultural heritage to be proud of--were designed to signify the president’s acceptance of the exchange idea as a “fruitful” step in bettering relations between the nations.

The new messages conveyed from Tehran via diplomatic channels to Washington grew out of the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit hosted by Iran last month. In talks with several Arab and other Muslim leaders, Khatami asked each to relay the same message to Washington, Arab diplomats and U.S. officials say.

By the time Arafat came to Washington last week for talks on the deadlocked Mideast peace process, the Clinton administration had already heard of Khatami’s overtures through envoys from Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other Muslim nations friendly to the United States.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, who met earlier Thursday in Switzerland with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi, told Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that Iran’s top diplomat had discussed Tehran’s interest in having warmer relations with the United States and Europe.

But the Iranian message was especially heartening as heard from Arafat, who said he had long talks with Khatami at the Tehran summit. Relations for years have been seriously strained between Iran, which has condemned the U.S.-brokered peace process, and Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization--evidenced by Tehran’s support for rival groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

In a surprise move, last month’s Islamic conference endorsed the 1993 Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinians, paving the way for further breakthroughs. Saeb Erekat, Arafat’s closest aide and senior Palestinian negotiator in the Mideast peace process, told The Times that the vote was the most significant development in Islamic politics in more than a decade.

The vote reflected a public shift in Iranian policy. Arafat informed the White House last week that Khatami privately told him that Tehran has little faith that the current process will result in a lasting peace but that his government is prepared to accept terms Arafat agrees to; Iran will not actively oppose or undermine a final peace accord.

Tehran’s opposition to the peace process is one of three obstacles--the others being its support of extremist groups and its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction--to better U.S.-Iranian relations. Khatami’s public and private remarks would appear to address at least part of this long-standing American concern, though administration sources want Iran to back its words with actions.

Clinton, even in his general remarks about the holiday, appeared to be addressing the Iranians. He said the celebratory feast marking Ramadan’s end was a time for “recommitting ourselves to the values of tolerance, mutual respect and understanding. . . . In a world where many Muslims suffer the terrible consequences of war, poverty and unrest, we must renew our efforts to resolve conflicts and remove the causes of strife.”