Iran's ex-president calls for mending U.S. relationship
Rafsanjani shifts hard-line position as government in neighboring Iraq crumbles.
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, IRAN – Iran's former president expressed support Saturday for holding a referendum on restoring ties with the United States, marking a significant shift as his fellow hard-liners nervously watch U.S.-led forces take control of neighboring Iraq.
Hashemi Rafsanjani has openly sided with hard-liners since stepping down as president in 1997 and still heads a powerful body advising Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Rafsanjani said "the problem of Iran-U.S. relations" should be resolved, either through a referendum or through a decision by the advisory body, called the Expediency Council.
Either way, the final decision would have to be confirmed by Khamenei, the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Rafsanjani as saying.
The mere mention of a referendum represents a marked shift by Rafsanjani.
With polls showing greater public support for dialogue with the United States - long vilified as the "Great Satan" - reformists have been pushing for the question to be decided by referendum.
However, Khamenei, who has backed the hard-liners who control most levers of government, has repeatedly rejected as "treason and stupidity" any talk about restoring ties, which were cut when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
Reformers seeking political and social change in Iran's Islamic government have been locked in a power struggle with hard-liners who control the judiciary, the military and powerful, unelected government bodies. Reformers have the support of Rafsanjani's successor, President Mohammad Khatami, but Khamenei has ultimate say in all matters.
Iran's leaders are in a heated debate over how to deal with the U.S. success in shattering Saddam Hussein's regime in neighboring Iraq. Many fear Iran - listed with Iraq and North Korea as part of President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" - could be next on America's target list.
More than 200 political activists signed a petition calling on the hard-line judiciary to release all political prisoners, lift the closure of newspapers and stop arbitrary disqualification of political candidates as a way to avoid Iraq's fate, IRNA reported Saturday.
Rafsanjani shifts hard-line position as government in neighboring Iraq crumbles.
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, IRAN – Iran's former president expressed support Saturday for holding a referendum on restoring ties with the United States, marking a significant shift as his fellow hard-liners nervously watch U.S.-led forces take control of neighboring Iraq.
Hashemi Rafsanjani has openly sided with hard-liners since stepping down as president in 1997 and still heads a powerful body advising Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Rafsanjani said "the problem of Iran-U.S. relations" should be resolved, either through a referendum or through a decision by the advisory body, called the Expediency Council.
Either way, the final decision would have to be confirmed by Khamenei, the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Rafsanjani as saying.
The mere mention of a referendum represents a marked shift by Rafsanjani.
With polls showing greater public support for dialogue with the United States - long vilified as the "Great Satan" - reformists have been pushing for the question to be decided by referendum.
However, Khamenei, who has backed the hard-liners who control most levers of government, has repeatedly rejected as "treason and stupidity" any talk about restoring ties, which were cut when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
Reformers seeking political and social change in Iran's Islamic government have been locked in a power struggle with hard-liners who control the judiciary, the military and powerful, unelected government bodies. Reformers have the support of Rafsanjani's successor, President Mohammad Khatami, but Khamenei has ultimate say in all matters.
Iran's leaders are in a heated debate over how to deal with the U.S. success in shattering Saddam Hussein's regime in neighboring Iraq. Many fear Iran - listed with Iraq and North Korea as part of President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" - could be next on America's target list.
More than 200 political activists signed a petition calling on the hard-line judiciary to release all political prisoners, lift the closure of newspapers and stop arbitrary disqualification of political candidates as a way to avoid Iraq's fate, IRNA reported Saturday.
