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Iranian Hardliner Urges U.S. to Change Hostile Policies
An Iranian hardliner on Sunday urged the United States to change its hostile policies toward Iran and stop its interference in Iran's internal affairs, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The U.S. must change its hostile policies and pledge to discontinue interference in Iran's internal affairs as well as recognize the Iranian nation and the Islamic republic, said Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of the powerful State Expediency Council, which is in charge of arbitrating differences between government branches.
Rezaie made the remarks at a student gathering in the southern Kerman province to mark the upcoming anniversary of the seizure of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran which led to the breaking of relations between the two countries.
A former commander of the Islamic Republic Guards Corps, the official told the gathering that contradictions in U.S. foreign policies are the main stumbling block to resumption of Tehran-Washington ties.
Radical Iranian students devoted to the 1979 Islamic revolution raided the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 3, 1980 and held more than 50 Americans hostage for 444 days.
A few days after the embassy seizure, Washington officially severed relations with Iran. The former U.S. embassy in Tehran has since been officially described as the "den of spies."
Rezaie said that the embassy seizure marked a political turning point in Iran's political struggles on the international scene. He also condemned the U.S. support for Israel, a country that Iran does not recognize.
Meanwhile, Iran's Association of Islamic Coalition on Sunday also issued a statement, condemning the U.S. backing for the Israeli regime, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 140 Palestinians in more than one month of clashes.
The hardline group called for the toppling of the Israeli regime and punishment of "Israeli war criminals."
"As long as the U.S. has not abandoned the sense of arrogance and hegemony over the world, any negotiation to resume relations would be to the detriment of Iran," the statement said.
Ties between Tehran and Washington have thawed a little since reformist President Mohammad Khatami took office in 1997.
In March, Washington declared the lifting of a ban on three major Iranian non-oil exports - of pistachio, carpets and caviar - as a goodwill gesture to Iranian reformers who won an overwhelming victory in the sixth parliament election in February.
But the Clinton administration still keeps the major part of economic sanctions and sticks to its accusations that Iran supports international terrorism, attempts to make mass-destructive weapons and opposes the Middle East peace process.
Iran has on many occasions called on the U.S. to remove the contradictions in its Iran policy and work toward resumption of ties through concrete measures.
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