Khatami wins boost from Islamic summit

Khatami wins boost from Islamic summit

By Paul Taylor

TEHRAN (Reuters): An Islamic summit in Tehran gave a strong boost to Iran's new President Mohammad Khatami and showed Iranians the welcome they can expect on the world stage if they eschew harsh anti-Western rhetoric.

Moslem leaders flocked to pay court to the moderate president elected in May, defying U.S. efforts to isolate Iran for its hostility to Arab-Israeli peace talks and alleged backing for "terrorism".

The biggest diplomatic event in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution was a tremendous morale booster for the Iranians and illustrated the depth of Arab resentment over U.S. support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Just compare the guest list in Tehran and at last month's (U.S.-sponsored) Middle East economic conference with Israel in Qatar," a European diplomat said. "In this zero-sum game, Iranian gains are American losses."

Key U.S. allies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which stayed away from the Doha meeting, trooped to Tehran to mend ties with a state which both long regarded as sponsoring Islamic subversion in their countries.

And the summit's Tehran Declaration, replete with attacks on Israel, omitted any mention of the U.S.-led peace process, reflecting Iran's views more than those of the Palestinians and Arab states that have made peace accords with the Jewish state.

Gulf Arab leaders and Central Asian presidents whom the new Iranian leadership has been successfully courting in recent months showed by their presence in Tehran that Iran is too large a neighbor to isolate or ignore.

But the summit was not an unmitigated triumph for the entire Iranian leadership.

Several key heads of state stayed away, notably Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Hussein and Morocco's King Hassan, the previous chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

And many of those who came found the inaugural anti-Western tirade by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei jarring. Under Iran's constitution, Khamenei has more power than the elected president.

But several visitors pointedly showed their preference for the soft-spoken Khatami, the smiling new face of Iran.

His speech on Tuesday was applauded for its calls for dialogue with other civilizations, learning from the West and building confidence among Moslem states that have been in conflict.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised Khatami as a man of his times, who believed in the rule of law and popular sovereignty and was "determined to work with his neighbors and with the rest of the world".

But he made only a perfunctory reference to Khamenei, whose shrill address was full of talk of plots by the enemies of Islam and the depravity of Western civilization.

Delegates said some countries were reluctant to include a mention of the "leadership of his Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei" in the final declaration.

They eventually accepted a compromise which mentioned Khatami twice and Khamenei once.

The Tehran summit provided an opportunity for Iran to talk even to its most loathed regional adversary, Iraq.

Khatami met Iraqi Deputy President Taha Yassin Ramadan, the most senior Baghdad official to visit Iran since the two countries fought a bitter eight-year war in 1980-88.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah had two meetings with Khatami, emphasizing the warming ties between the powers on opposite sides of the Gulf.

But the new Iranian president was wary of a Saudi offer to mediate between Tehran and the United States, and of a State Department offer of dialogue with a representative of the Iranian government.

Iranian deputy foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran saw nothing new in U.S. statements and the U.S. attitude to Iran would have to change first.

But he added intriguingly: "Any indications of a real change in the attitude will be seriously considered here."