Iran and the West

Restoring mutual dignity and respect to relations between Iran and the West will be a slow and delicate process. There are encouraging signs that it is well under way.

Trade concerns provide partial motivation for these gestures but there is a more fundamental cause. The victory in May 1997 of the reformist President Mohammad Khatami is the outward sign of profound change in Iranian society. (Iranians) crave a more tolerant interpretation of Islam. Khatami offers hope and the West is right to support him against the still powerful fundamentalists.

-- The Scotsman, Edinburgh