U.S. Explores Recruiting Iran Into New Coalition

By Alan Sipress and Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 25, 2001; Page A01

The Bush administration is delicately exploring whether Iran could be brought into a coalition against terrorism, a development that could significantly boost the U.S. campaign against Osama bin Laden and his Afghan backers but prove highly divisive in both the United States and Iran.

After the Iranian government issued a strong statement of condemnation following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, U.S. officials set out to determine through indirect channels what kind of intelligence and other assistance Iran could provide, particularly on bin Laden's whereabouts.

Though Iran has been deemed by the State Department to be a state sponsor of terrorism for supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon and other militant groups, it has opposed the Taliban movement that rules most of Afghanistan and provides a haven to bin Laden and his followers. Tehran moved to the brink of war with its eastern neighbor three years ago, massing 200,000 troops on the Afghan border after Taliban forces stormed the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif and massacred Iran's co-religionist Shiite Muslims. Nine Iranians were killed when their diplomatic mission was overrun.

U.S. officials hope to convert Iran's antipathy to the Taliban into a broader campaign against militant groups, and some foreign policy experts say these indirect contacts could usher in a new era of U.S.-Iranian relations, which were severed following the 1979 Islamic revolution and the storming of the American Embassy in Tehran.

Despite this optimism, significant obstacles remain to any meaningful improvement in U.S.-Iranian ties, among them Iran's alleged involvement in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in which 19 U.S. airmen died and its reputed connection to the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 22 people.

Even so, administration officials took note when Iran's leaders condemned the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In response, the administration sent the Iranian leadership a message through the Swiss government, which represents U.S. interests in Tehran, according to sources familiar with the communication.

The message not only thanked Iran for its condolences but asked it to join the drive against terrorism. More specifically, U.S. officials asked if Iran would share information about bin Laden and the Taliban. Iran monitors developments in Afghanistan, supports several opposition factions battling the Taliban and is home to an estimated 1.5 million Afghan refugees, some of whom may have valuable intelligence, according to U.S. experts on Iran.

Administration officials continued their discussions about Iran yesterday with Switzerland's ambassador to Tehran, Tim Guldimann, who was in Washington for a two-day visit. Though the trip was scheduled before the Sept. 11 attacks, the talks have taken on more urgency, U.S. officials said.

At the same time, the administration is anxious to hear what British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw learns during a trip he began yesterday to Tehran, the first visit by a British foreign minister to Iran since 1979. Straw's trip comes one day after he conferred with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

"We did not ask him to take any particular message from us," State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher said. "But I think we look forward to hearing what transpires in those discussions." He said the United States still does not have a "broader appreciation" about whether Iran is prepared to crack down on all terrorist groups in its territory.

During his visit, Straw is expected to emphasize the West's need for Iranian intelligence about the Taliban and other governments hosting terrorists, British sources said. At a minimum, he wants the Iranian government to stay neutral during any Western attack on the Taliban, sources said. Straw called on Iran before his departure to join the anti-terrorist effort as a way of demonstrating that it is not designed as an anti-Muslim campaign.

Straw's visit was hastily arranged after Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and British Prime Minister Tony Blair held a telephone conversation as Blair was flying to Washington to meet President Bush on Thursday.

A separate delegation of European Union leaders, who met with Powell on Thursday to discuss the response to the terrorist attacks, is also scheduled to visit Iran this week as part of a regional tour.

American and European leaders are hoping to tap into a groundswell of sympathy in Iran for the United States, evidenced by a condolence message sent to New York City by the mayors of Tehran and Isfahan and a moment of silence observed by 60,000 fans at an Iranian soccer game.

Some influential former U.S. policymakers have advocated a reopening toward Iran, including former assistant secretary of state Robert H. Pelletreau and Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to Bush's father.

"We need to try to separate these people into constituencies and not treat everybody as terrorists," said Scowcroft, who now runs an international business consulting firm. "Certainly Iran is a major supporter of Hezbollah, but it is also a pretty bitter enemy of the Taliban. . . . it seems to me there is a possibility for at least a limited amount of cooperation."

There are also strong commercial pressures for establishing a reopening with Iran. U.S. oil companies have long chafed at the restrictions that bar them from exploring for oil and gas in Iran.

While some in the current administration sympathize with those advocating closer ties with Iran, U.S. officials have remained silent about the current overtures, fearing that a higher profile could torpedo them.

A move toward closer ties with the United States would be met with significant opposition in Iran. The sensitivity of Tehran signing on to a U.S.-led campaign against terrorism was evident in Iran's newspapers yesterday, which lambasted Straw for trying to secure its participation in an effort to track down bin Laden. Iran has already ruled out allowing the West to use its airspace in an attack on bin Laden and his supporters.

An embrace of Iran would spark an outcry in the United States as well. Influential figures in both the administration and Congress are deeply concerned about Tehran's backing for Hezbollah, which is suspected in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, its financial support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, as well as its alleged involvement in the Khobar Towers and Israeli Embassy bombings.

An administration effort earlier this year to loosen economic sanctions on Iran and Libya was overwhelmingly beaten back on Capitol Hill in large part because of a campaign by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

In a statement yesterday, Tim Wuliger, AIPAC's president, welcomed the comments by Bush last week that the United States would stand against countries that continue to support terrorism. "Iran must decide whether it will continue to sponsor terrorism or join the U.S.-led effort against terrorism," Wuliger said.

Correspondent T.R. Reid in London contributed to this report.