Press release - May 2, 1998

FDI Board member welcomes Khatami, but cautions U.S. on regime

FDI Board member Ayatollah Mehdi Rouhani, the leader of the Shiite Muslim community in Europe, has welcomed the efforts of Iranian President Khatami to liberalize Iranian society, but he cautioned U.S. government analysts against dropping sanctions against the Islamic Republic or rushing to embrace the regime.

Rouhani said that for Khatami to maintain his legitimacy in the eyes of the people "he will have to work to dismantle the regime." Speaking in the name of senior Iranian conservative clerics, Rouhani said: "We support Khatami, and the West should support Khatami - but only in so far as he opposes the regime of Velayat-e Faqih."

Rouhani also warned former U.S. officials who recently traveled to Iran at the invitation of the Iranian Foreign Ministry not to allow themselves to play into the hands of the extremists. "Be careful that you do not strengthen Khamene'i's hand," he said. While he encouraged greater trade in principle between the West and Iran, he cautioned the U.S. not to "give something to Khatami with one hand, which Khatami then gives to Khamene'i with the other."

In the past, he observed, whenever the U.S. has made concessions to Iran in the hopes of helping advance the cause of moderates, (such as limited weapons sales during Iran-contra), the extremists have claimed that the concessions came as a result of their own uncompromising policies. "You must be very, very careful," Rouhani warned.

Ayatollah Rouhani, who resides in Paris, was brought to Washington, DC as a guest of the U.S. government to address a government conference on U.S.-Iran relations on April 30. At the invitation of the conference organizers, Rouhani opened the conference with a traditional Islamic prayer and a call for peace.

Ayatollah Rouhani is a Shiite cleric and member of the FDI board, whose brother, Grand Ayatollah Sadegh Rouhani, has been under house arrest in Qom since 1985. He called the last year's election of Hojj. Mohammad Khatami as president of Iran "a disavowal by the Iranian people of the system of Velayat-e faghih [religious rule]."

The Foundation for Democracy in Iran is a private, non-profit corporation registered in the State of Maryland. For further information, contact: Kenneth R. Timmerman, Executive Director. Tel: (301) 946-2918. Fax: (301) 942-5341. FDI materials, including the FDI Newswire, are available free-of-charge via the Internet at http://www.iran.org