The Iranian president's bold call for closer ties with the United States received no response Monday from the ruling clerical establishment - causing analysts to question his intentions. Washington said it was reviewing the overture.
In the strongest gesture of reconciliation with the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution overturned the U.S.-backed regime, President Mo-ham-mad Khatami praised Americans on Sunday."I take this opportunity to pay my respects to the great American people, and hope to have a dialogue with the American people and about the United States in the not too distant future," he told a news conference.
The offer could prove to be the moderate president's biggest gamble in his effort to steer Iran away from the influence of the hard-line clergy, which has been in power since the revolution.
But the clergy's mouthpieces, hard-line newspapers such as the Jomhuri Islami, Qods, Resalat and Kayhan, reported the statements without comment Monday - a glaring departure from their past record of attacking any sign of peace overture to the United States.
While some saw that as tacit approval for Khatami's views, others said the mullahs led by Iran's all-powerful spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were preparing to launch a harsh attack.
"I am sure that Mr. Khatami and Mr. Khamenei are working together. It cannot be otherwise," said Fereidoun Barkeshli, a political analyst at the state-run Institute for International Energy Studies.
Many Iranians believe it would be inconceivable that the clergy, which for 18 years has derided the United States as "The Great Satan," would accept any rapprochement.
"I think it really is time to end our problems with the United States," said Hassan Rastgou, a 25-year-old university student. "But in calling for closer relations with Americans Mr. Khatami is too far ahead of the rest of Iran's Islamic government."
The United States has said it is prepared to open a "dialogue" with Iran. As recently as last Tuesday, State Department spokesman James Foley used the term and said the talks should "take place with an authorized representative of the government and that it be acknowledged publicly."
President Clinton on Monday said he was "quite encouraged" by the Iranian president's call for closer ties and is interested in pursuing the overture.
"It was welcomed," Clinton said at the White House. "I would like nothing better than to have a dialogue with Iran, as long as we can have an honest discussion of all the relevant issues."
Clinton defined those issues as the sponsorship of terrorism, "violent attacks" on the Mideast peace process and the "development or acquisition" of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry refused to comment Monday on a report in Israel's Haaretz daily that Iranian and U.S. officials had met for a secret dialogue in Europe. "As a general rule, we don't comment on reports out of Israel," said a spokesman, who demanded anonymity.
A good word for the United States has been unheard of among Iranian leaders since the revolution toppled the U.S.-backed Shah and installed a clerical government led by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The revolution-era slogan, "Death to America," still is taught in schools.
A resumption of U.S.-Iran ties would likely be popular among Iranians who are tired of being cast as a pariah state by much of the West.
Although Khatami won a landslide victory in May elections, his powers are limited: the final word rests with Khamenei, Iran's ultra-conservative spiritual leader who opposed Khatami's election.