Reach out to Iran, opposition figure urges U.S.

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Source: Reuters

By Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN, June 4 (Reuters) - The United States should ease its pressure on Iran and seek detente as it did with communist China in the 1970s if it wants to support democracy in the Islamic Republic, an Iranian opposition politician said.

Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Washington is leading a Western drive to isolate Tehran over its nuclear work, while Iran brands the United States "the Great Satan".

Ebrahim Yazdi, leader of the banned Freedom Movement, called on Washington to change its policies towards Iran and suggested U.S. moves to reduce hostility would help remove any justification for Tehran in cracking down on critics at home.

"If the U.S. decides to normalise relations with Iran it would benefit the cause of democracy in Iran," said Yazdi, a foreign minister in Iran's first government after the revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah.

"Because then the Iranian authorities don't have any excuse to suppress us or to accuse us of being agents of the foreigners," he told Reuters in an interview on Sunday.

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