Iranian overtures

The stream of invective directed against America by Iranian political and military leaders over the past few days demonstrates there are many in Teheran who will do everything possible to prevent a rapprochement with Washington.

Chief among these is spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose anti-American rhetoric has dashed the hopes of an early breakthrough in relations that seemed likely after conciliatory comments by President Muhammad Khatami during a recent CNN interview.

The moderate Mr. Khatami, who unexpectedly triumphed over his conservative rival in last May's elections, is probably reflecting the wish of most Iranians as he tries to move toward better relations with Washington. But he is in a minority in the Iranian leadership and so can do no more than publicly appeal for an end to hostilities, in the hope this brings a conciliatory reaction from the White House that will help strengthen his own position.

Unfortunately, the response to his comments fell short of recognizing the extraordinary opportunity this could have presented: with Mr. Khatami appearing to express regret for the past taking of U.S. hostages and calling for closer contacts with the American people.

While the White House welcomed his comments, it insisted any such contacts must be on a government-to-government basis and called on Iran to prove its sincerity through deeds rather than words. This ambiguous response evidently gave Teheran's hardliners the perfect excuse with which to attack Mr. Khatami's initiative, and redefine it into a less conciliatory context.

Now the balance has swung in their favor, with even fellow moderates forced to echo the new line of attacking American attempts to distort the true meaning of the president's speech. The U.S. has squandered a chance to begin ending two decades of hostility with Iran. It is to be hoped that, when the next such opportunity arises, they will respond more positively.

-- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong