Iran diplomacy comes under fire at home

By Mehrdad Balali

DUBAI (Reuters): Long reviled by the West, Iran's foreign policy is coming under fire at home with reformers demanding an overhaul of the apparatus of diplomacy.

A committee of the reformist parliament summoned Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on Monday after complaints about the ministry's inefficiency and a "passive" approach on policy.

Diplomacy is one of several areas under scrutiny as President Mohammad Khatami prepares to form a new cabinet following his re- election last month.

Reformers seek a new team of skillful politicians to see the country through a transition into the global economy after two decades of virtual isolation since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Details of the Kharrazi meeting were not immediately known, but MPs are believed to have grilled him on a failure to cement global ties despite Iran's improved international standing.

"We need a more active and stable foreign policy to reap benefits from our improved image," said Ahmad Hakimipour, a reformist politician.

The moderate Khatami has distanced himself from the radical Islamic tendencies of the past and sought better relations with the West and the Arab world. After his 1997 election, he even made a tentative overture to the United States, restoring a measure of good will between the two long-time foes.

But his efforts have yet to secure Iran a comfortable place internationally and help its ailing economy.

This, reformers say, is partly because of the hardline opposition, but is also due to Tehran's contradictory policies.

The U.S. and some other Western countries have complained that the dynamic of reform sweeping through Iran under Khatami has yet to touch its diplomacy.

Tehran maintains its uncompromising stance toward Washington and remains deeply hostile toward Israel. The Islamic republic also finds it hard to compromise enough to restore ties with Egypt, severed after the revolution.

"We feel a stronger sense of realism in Iran's foreign policy, a better understanding of where its interests lie," said a Western diplomat based in Tehran.

"The problem is the multi-faceted power structure here and that each center of power is pushing its own agenda," he said.

The foreign ministry has often to grapple with parallel revolutionary institutions on sensitive issues. Some say it is little more than an executive arm for the Expediency Council, a conservative body which sets general policy guidelines.

Shadowy hardline groups often interfere in foreign policy and try to sabotage what they see as undesirable. Vigilante groups have attacked Americans they assumed to be CIA spies and resisted government efforts toward rapprochement with Egypt.

"There are many bodies which meddle in foreign policy and impose their non-expert views," said Elaheh Kulai, a member of parliament's committee on foreign affairs. "If we fail to shape a cohesive foreign policy, everyone will lose."

Reformers believe that the foreign ministry has failed to build up on Khatami's 1997 overture to the United States and pave the way for resumption of ties, broken after the revolution which overthrew the U.S.-allied shah.

Fearing a hardline backlash, the ministry is always quick to play down any contact with U.S. politicians and, this week, it hurriedly denied rumors of a visit by two U.S. former officials.

"We have to be judged as part of a whole system and within political and constitutional restraints," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in defense of the ministry.

"It is not possible to achieve success without having the right tools to work with," he said recently.

Iran still retains tough visa regulations for foreign travelers, partly due to bureaucratic restraints but also because of a lingering xenophobia.

Poorly-trained personnel, critics say, also contributes to the ministry's unimpressive record. After the revolution, many professional diplomats were sidelined or left the country.

"Many of the diplomatic personnel are not fit for their job. They are there because of family and political connections, not because they deserve it," Hakimipour said.