Washington, DC - The Danish parliament has taken a courageous step by calling on the government to open a dialogue with democratic Iranian opposition groups. The resolution, voted on Nov. 14, marks the third time since August that Copenhagen has broken ranks with the European Union over how to deal with the clerical regime in Teheran.
On Aug. 15, the Danes announced they were suspending their "bilateral" dialogue with Teheran because of Iran's abysmal human rights record. And on Oct. 28, they threatened to veto a European Commission plan to retaliate against U.S. trade sanctions on Iran, because the proposed measures would have compromised Danish sovereignty.
The Danish overture toward the democratic Iranian opposition - which is comprised of a grab bag of organizations ranging from the former Marxist-Leninist People's Fedayeen (Majority) to the conservative Constitutionalists Movement of Iran - is a hesitant first step toward the creation of a new, more pro-active approach toward the Teheran regime.
Gert Petersen, the foreign affairs spokesman of the Socialist People's Party, was one of the driving forces behind the parliamentary move. "We have asked the government to insist that Iran's leaders respect international law, human rights, and democratic standards," he told me. "We want to stress that for us, human rights have a higher priority than economic interest."
In this, Denmark remains alone among its European partners, who clearly have just the opposite priorities. Italian steelmaker Danieli announced on November 9 it was signing a $1 billion contract to set up two new steel plants in Iran, that would be financed by a consortium of European and Japanese banks. The Italian government is said to be contemplating extending export credit guarantees to back the sale.
During a recent trip to Paris, an Iranian deputy foreign minister, Mahmoud Vaezi, claimed that French Foreign Minister Hervé de Charette told him France "wished to become Iran's number one trading partner." Vaezi ticked off a whole laundry list of items Teheran was seeking to purchase from France - from communication satellites worth $500 million, to 10 Airbus aircraft worth more than $1 billion.
Germany, of course, remains Iran's number one trading partner. Last year, German companies delivered more than $1.6 billion worth of goods to Iran, primarily sophisticated machine-tools and manufacturing gear, much of which can be used in the dozens of military plants built by German firms over the past decade. If it weren't for the oft-criticized U.S. economic sanctions against Iran, which have forced the regime in Teheran to cut imports to pay off its debt, German companies would undoubtedly have had a better year. In 1993, they racked up $2.7 billion in sales to Iran, and in 1992 a whopping $5 billion. As usual, the overwhelming majority of the goods were "dual-use" items, meaning they have recognized military applications.
Germany has tried to sugar-coat its aide to a brutal, undemocratic regime by boasting it has used its leverage to raise humanitarian cases with Teheran. The Chancellor's Intelligence Coordinator, Bernd Schmidbauer, has been in charge of this delicate task, and has made several trips to Teheran this year. His latest efforts have focused not on the fate of Iranians, but on that of Israeli aviator Ron Arad, whose plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986 and whom the Israelis believe is being held in Iran. Sources in Teheran say Schmidbauer made a discreet trip to Teheran on Oct. 27 to discuss Mr. Arad. He may also have been trying to quell tension over the allegations made in a German court that top Iranian officials were involved for 1992 gangland-style killing of dissident Kurds in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin. The German state prosecutor has already issued an arrest warrant for Iranian intelligence boss Ali Fallahian, and last week publicly accused Supreme Leader Ali Khamene'i and President Hashemi-Rafsanjani of having ordered the killings.
But if Germany made any efforts to soothe the Iranian concerns, he obviously failed - angry crowds have encircled the German embassy in Teheran several times over the past ten days. The demonstrators have threatened to take German diplomats hostage in a repeat of the 1979-1981 hostage crisis, and have asked the regime to issue a death edict against the German state prosecutor, "just as was done with [Salman] Rushdie."
Europe's so-called "critical" dialogue has brought no relief to the millions of Iranian women who must still obtain their husband's written permission if they wish to travel abroad, and who can be sold into "temporary marriage" for a night to suit the whims of a relative or friend. Nor has it won any concessions from the regime in its treatment of its Kurdish, Balouch, or Turkoman minorities. Religious oppression against the Sunni Muslim minority and against Baha'is has actually worsened over the past year, according to the latest report from the United Nation's Special Rapporteur for Iran, Professor Maurice Copithorne.
The regime feels so brazen in the face of European "criticism" that it has now taken to harassing dissident writers. The most recent case is that of Faraj Sarkouhi, who was last seen at Teheran's Mehrebad airport on November 3 as he was about to board a flight to Frankfurt. He has not been heard of since. The opposition Iran Nation's Party in Teheran claims he was taken to an Intelligence ministry safe house, tortured, and killed. These allegations are now being repeated by Iranian exiles in Europe and the U.S.
Even the one gain Europe can show for its "critical" dialogue - money - is uncertain. Teheran's rulers have proven themselves to be unreliable, prone to late payment and adept at using coercion to win concessions. They have canceled signed agreements with a flick of the wrist and have kidnapped diplomats and foreign businessmen as a coin of exchange.
Denmark's principled stand is reminiscent of the role its Swedish neighbor played in the 1970s and 1980s in mounting an international campaign against another heinous regime - the apartheid government in South Africa. Sweden established very warm relations with the opposition African National Congress, promoting their cause in international assemblies and secretly providing hundreds of millions of dollars in covert funding.
European leaders argue, of course, that there is no Iranian Nelson Mandela for them to support. But they miss the point. While Sweden was supporting the ANC, Nelson Mandela was in jail and reduced to silence. The Nelson Mandelas of tomorrow's Iran are also in jail. But there are democratic opposition groups who are fighting just as hard for freedom in Iran as the ANC was fighting against apartheid in South Africa. It is the duty of principled free people to support them. Denmark has showed the way.
Mr. Timmerman publishes The Iran Brief, a monthly investigative newsletter on strategy and trade, and is Executive Director of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, a human rights advocacy group. Send your comments to: exec@iran.org