Iranian Leader Backs Palestinian Opposition

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami pledged support Friday for Palestinians opposed to the Mideast peace process, saying time is on the side of the resistance movement.

Scores of Syrian police ringed the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, where Khatami met with senior Palestinian officials from radical factions. Iranian television quoted Khatami as saying that “the future will be in favor of you and everyone else who rejects hegemony.”

“Our demand is the realization of the most natural right of 5 million Palestinian refugees--that is, they should have the right to live in their motherland,” Khatami said, according to the TV broadcast monitored by the British Broadcasting Corp.

“The Islamic Revolution and the people of Iran will be with you,” Khatami added.

Pictures of Khatami and Syrian President Hafez Assad shaking hands adorned Damascus streets Friday, a sign of the importance Syria attaches to Khatami’s first visit since he assumed the presidency in 1997.

Syria, Iran’s closest Arab ally, supported Tehran in its 1980-88 war with Iraq.

Khatami and Assad met Friday for a second time in two days. Syrian presidential spokesman Jubran Kourieh said the two leaders discussed international issues and Arab-Iranian relations.

Earlier Friday, Khatami discussed Palestinian rights of self-determination with radical Palestinian factions. Iran, like the factions Khatami met with Friday, opposes Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s peace treaty with Israel.

Khatami was expected to hold talks with Lebanese officials Saturday, including Lebanese National Assembly Speaker Nabih Berri and Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. He also was to meet with Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas who are fighting Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon.