What President Clinton said about Iran

[savemefromdumbya]

http://www.fas.org/news/iran/2000/000214-iran1.htm

Mr. Clinton says having a constructive U-S
partnership with Iran is one of the best things that
could be done for the long-term peace and health of
the Middle East. And he says he is still hopeful such
a relationship can materialize despite seemingly-
fruitless of overtures to Tehran in the recent past.

The president made the comments in an unusual dialogue
with internet callers to the C-N-N broadcast network's
website, C-N-N Dot-Com, carried live on television.

He told a questioner from Iran that he shared the
young man's hopes for a "healthy and mutually
respectful" relationship between the two countries,
while saying the issue rests largely in the hands of
the Iranian people and the election process there.

Acknowledging the split among Iran's top leaders over
restoring a relationship broken off after the Islamic
revolution in 1979, Mr. Clinton said he did not want
to jeopardize the position of moderates in the Tehran
leadership:



I think it's important that the genuine
reformers there not be, in effect, weakened
because of their willingness to at least talk to
us. Because I think that the United States
should always remain open to a constructive
dialogue of people of goodwill. And I think that
the estrangement between these two countries is
not a good thing. I think it would be better if
we could have a relationship.



The Clinton administration has sent a number of
conciliatory signals to Iran since the election of the
relatively-moderate Muslim cleric Mohamed Khatemi as
president in 1997.

The administration says it wants an authoritative
dialogue with Iran on all issues of concern to both
parties, including Iran's alleged support for
terrorism, strident opposition to Israeli-Arab peace-
making and efforts to acquire weapons of mass
destruction.

While he did not elaborate, Mr. Clinton said in his
C-N-N remarks that the United States has not in his
words "been entirely blameless" in its past dealings
with Iran.

[PATRICK]

1. Bush 2 started scuttling

all such possibility and all such dialogue ASAP, setting the stage in 2001 before the Sunni planes flew.