Part 7 ---From the very first day after the culmination of the Iranian revolution in 1979, Tehran's relations with its Persian Gulf Arab neighbors became strained, which was quite natural. That is because the Iranian revolution was basically anti-West, particularly anti the United States, whose president Bill Clinton is on record as admitting that they had done wrong against the Iranian nation for 50 years or 100 years.

Iran's popular revolutionary slogan was Neither East nor the West,', which rejected the supremacy of both powers of the time. However, the Iranian Arab neighbors were rightly called satellites of the West, particularly the United States. Iran was totally against the presence of the Western forces in the region, while Persian Gulf Arab countries believed such presence ensured their safety and security.

In the meantime, two major issues emerged on the political scene of the region. (Iraqi imposed war will not be discussed in this during the Hajj season in Saudi Arabia in 1987 and the three islands in the Persian Gulf. Before we go into details, it should be said that, presently, Iran's ties with other countries including those in the region are better than at any other time since the victory of the Iranian revolution.

But ties between Iran and the U.S. are still far from normal despite cautious attempts for their repair by certain political caucuses in both countries. Some observers say one should not expect a thaw in Irano-U.S. ties in near future. Iran is still awaiting the settlement of a lawsuit that it has lodged with the International Court at the Hague over some $12 billion worth of assets frozen by the U.S. after the two nations broke off diplomatic ties in 1980. The relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two heavyweights in the region, suffered heavily and touched their lowest level in 1987 when 400 people, mostly Iranians, lost their lives in Mecca during an anti-U.S.

and anti-Israeli rally by the Iranian pilgrims. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken off in 1988 but were restored in 1991. Regarding the issue of the three islands in the Persian Gulf, Iran says there is some misunderstanding on the part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which can be removed at the negotiation table. But the UAE does not accept this and tries to involve a third party or the International Court in the dispute.

Iran has controlled the islands since 1971 following an end to a British protectorate. Tehran rejects arbitration and says when the UAE was formed and recognized by Iran, there was a joint statement which did not even refer to the islands. Iran also says that, during the Shah's regime, Sheikh Ziad visited Iran three times and joint statements were issued with no mention about the Islands. With these realities in the background, Khatami started his three-nation eight-day tour which took him first to Syria and then to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Many believe that Oman also should have been included in Khatami's itinerary, as the Sultanate has been friendly to Iran during the last 20 years.

Talking to the writer of this article, Omani Information Minister Abd Al-Aziz bin Muhammad bin Abdullah As-Salim once said in Muscat, "Iran and Oman are two wings of the Persian Gulf which are bound to go together." Similar positive views have also been voiced by Omani Minister of State Yousef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, who has visited Tehran several times and has talked to the TEHRAN TIMES on some occasions.

Therefore, it is believed that Khatami will visit other regional countries including Oman and Kuwait in the near future. Khatami was in Damascus on May 13 and, besides bilateral issues, he also discussed the issue of Palestine with the officials of that country. Iran, from the very beginning, opposed the peace process envisaged in the 1993 Oslo accords. Syria's own peace talks with Israel have been frozen since early 1996. On May 14, Khatami met with the Palestinian leaders who were against the peace talks with Israel. He also met with Lebanese Hizbollah leaders.

Taking a clear-cut stance on Israel, the President made it clear that Iran will not stop opposing the Israeli treatment of Palestinians and the Arabs. In fact, the 1997 epic brought no change in Iran's policy against Israel. The U.S. State Department official Martin Indyk expressed dissatisfaction with Khatami's meeting with the opponents of the Middle East peace process and said, "Khatami's meeting with leaders of militant Palestinian factions and his strong support for continued resistance against Israel worries the U.S." (To be continued)