Softer Stance by Iran

The great freeze in U.S. relations with Iran that began with the Islamic revolution nearly 20 years ago appears to be softening a little around the edges, but as President Mohammad Khatami made clear at the United Nations this week, Tehran still isn’t ready to open a formal political dialogue with Washington. But that doesn’t mean Khatami isn’t eager to improve Iran’s relations elsewhere. A dramatic signal came Thursday with the announcement that, as part of its agreement to restore full diplomatic ties with Britain, Iran’s government “disassociates” itself from the $2.5-million bounty that has been offered for the killing of controversial author Salman Rushdie.

The assurance that the government will do nothing “to threaten the life of the author of ‘The Satanic Verses’ or anybody associated with his work” advances Khatami’s goal of easing Iran’s confrontation with the West. But the statement made by Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi after his meeting in New York with British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook goes only so far. Common sense dictates that Rushdie, despite his buoyant reaction to the change, not immediately abandon the underground life he has been forced to lead since 1989: To some Muslims, he remains a marked man. The fact that the Iranian government won’t help facilitate his extermination does not guarantee his safety.

Rushdie was denounced in a fatwa, a religious edict, when the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini held the novel “The Satanic Verses” to be blasphemy against Islam. The fatwa said any Muslim able to do so had a duty to kill Rushdie. The author, born in India of Muslim parents, went into hiding under British police protection. One person involved with translating and publishing his book has been murdered and three have been wounded. Iran’s top religious leaders continue to assert that the fatwa, coming from the revered Khomeini, cannot be rescinded.

Khatami was the surprising choice for president two years ago because to millions of Iranians--the young and women especially--he represented the hope that the rigid and often obscurantist policies imposed by the ruling mullahs could be modified. He has tangled repeatedly with hard-line religious leaders determined to hold onto power. Unable to strike directly at Khatami, they have harassed and jailed some of his supporters. No doubt they remain committed to doing whatever they can to undercut his moderate initiatives. Given that, Rushdie would be prudent to continue living in the shadows for some time to come.