Iranian Official Stops in O.C., Draws Protest

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi wrapped up the Southern California portion of an unprecedented tour of the United States on Saturday night, telling a sympathetic audience of expatriates in Dana Point to rejoice in an independent Iran.

The highest-ranking Iranian official permitted to travel widely in the U.S. since the overthrow of the Shah more than two decades ago also urged the audience to speak out for the rights of Iranians everywhere.

“Why shouldn’t Iran have a strong lobby here to fight for the rights of Iranians?” Kharrazi asked.

On his stops last week, Kharrazi drew both angry protesters and Iranian Americans eager for their adopted home to reestablish ties with their native country.

His presence on American soil was yet another sign of the Clinton administration’s interest in warming relations with the Islamic Republic.

“Let’s gather around and talk about Iran to enrich our souls,” Kharrazi said in a speech to several hundred at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel on Saturday night.

Earlier in the evening, as Mercedeses and BMWs deposited Kharrazi’s audience at the hotel, about 100 demonstrators screamed, chanted, waved Iranian flags and pelted the luxury cars with eggs and plastic bottles.

Shaking their fists at passing cars on Pacific Coast Highway, protesters chanted, “Don’t support terrorism!” and waved banners reading, “Down with the Iranian regime.”

At least four people were arrested, said Lt. Rich Paddock of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which patrols Dana Point.

One person was being held in connection with an assault, Paddock said, two on suspicion of throwing objects, and one, disturbing the peace.

“The United States is always talking about human rights,” said one protester named Shahla, an Orange County family therapist who declined to give her last name. “Iran is one of the countries that abuses human rights, especially women’s rights.

“This is wrong,” she complained. “The U.S. should not have given permission to this guy to be here.”

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Other protesters told of experiences in their homeland. Speaking through a translator, Zahra Lashaki of Reseda said that her 16-year-old niece was burned, beaten and then killed by Iranian soldiers because they mistakenly believed the girl belonged to an opposition political group.

“They tortured her to make her confess. They raped her in prison, and they killed her two hours after raping her,” she said.

Others said the Iranian leader’s presence here brings back terrible memories of the political oppression they fled.

Mohsen Bahri of Lake Forest, who left Iran with his wife and children years ago, said he came to the Ritz-Carlton to get the attention of the U.S. government and to urge against resuming relations with his homeland.

Of Kharrazi, he said, “He belongs to the regime of Iran, to all the torture, all the killings, all the imprisonment.” That government, he said, “is not representative of the Iranian people.”

The mood was much friendlier inside a Ritz-Carlton ballroom, where guests chatted over food and drinks before hearing Kharrazi’s remarks.

Dr. Amir Fassihi of Los Angeles said he sympathized with the protesters’ concerns but disliked their tactics.

“I think it’s OK to voice opposition but I think it’s wrong to block opposing opinions,” he said. “With that attitude you can’t advance consensus.”

On Monday Kharrazi spoke at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and Thursday at UCLA.

Security was tight at every event and safety concerns prompted a change of location for Saturday’s gathering, originally planned for UC Irvine, said a member of Kharrazi’s entourage.

Some of those who attended the UCLA gathering were businessmen interested in opening avenues of trade to the oil- and mineral-rich nation of their birth.

It was to those interests that Kharrazi played, highlighting Iran’s richness in resources and its prime location as a gateway between East and West, north and south.

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Just as there was disagreement over Kharrazi’s American visit, there is considerable political tension in Iran.

Although hard-liners led by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, lost the presidency and much of parliament, they still control the judiciary and military and have struggled to stall the reformist movement working to loosen restrictions on personal and press freedoms.

Iranian Americans who support reestablishing ties with the Islamic Republic argue that the lack of political contact with the West and continued economic sanctions only help the anti-reformists.

But Kharrazi protesters strongly disagree.

“This man is a terrorist,” said Cyrus Ghahemi, an Iranian American who lives in Woodland Hills. “It is not fair to bring a terrorist in here and invite him with open arms.”

Many of the demonstrators’ demands mirror rights in their adopted homeland: Freedom of speech, assembly, press and religion, along with separation of church and state.

They also condemned the Islamic Republic for taking political prisoners during the last 21 years, torturing and executing many of them.

“All I want to know is why they executed my husband 12 years ago,” demanded a demonstrator at UCLA as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Kharrazi said during both the UCLA and Ritz-Carlton gatherings that he was not bothered by the protests. “I believe in Islamic democracy,” he said. “But those people who resort to aggressive behavior . . . have to be taught how to express themselves lovingly and without aggression.”

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Times staff writer Bettina Boxall and correspondent Renee Moilanen contributed to this report.