TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, said Friday that U.S. accusations of Iranian meddling in Iraq were an attempt to cover Washington's failure to establish order. He suggested that the chaos in Iraq would end only after Iraqis are able to choose their own government.
But Iranian defiance at the end of a three-day gathering of foreign ministers from the Organization of the Islamic Conference was tempered by clear concern that the country could be the next target of the Bush administration. The Iranians took the unusual step of circulating a statement to all the delegations denying that Iran is developing nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction.
The United States has contended that Iran is developing nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian nuclear program. It has also suggested that Iran may be harboring militants who played a role in the May 12 suicide bombings against western targets in Saudi Arabia. A debate is raging with the administration over policy toward Iran.
The Iranian foreign minister was vehement in his criticism of the U.S. focus on Iran. "They are looking for escape routes to justify their failure so far," Kharrazi said at a news conference "The Americans have not been successful in creating law and order in Iraq."
The foreign minister echoed statements made repeatedly this week and emphasized again Friday at Friday prayers — a crucial public barometer in the Islamic republic — that the United States was drumming up allegations in order to pursue its goal of dominating the region and its oil supplies.
But in the light of such statements and general unease in the Islamic world over America's presence in Iraq, the final communique of the meeting read far more mildly than expected, some delegates at the conference suggested. The resolution, they pointed out, did not condemn the occupation or Iraq outright.
"Caution is the word today," a senior Arab diplomat said. "There were three countries on the 'Axis of Evil' list, and one of them is already finished," he added, noting the irony of a day spent on discussions about Iraq with no Iraqi delegate present. "All in all, the theme here is moderation."
Kharrazi's suggested that a referendum should be held in Iraq to allow its inhabitants to choose the next government. But this proposal was not included among the pan-Islamic concerns listed in the final statement from the 57-member organization.
The paragraph on Iraq hewed closely to the line established in the most recent U.N. resolution: keeping Iraq whole and re-establishing it as a sovereign nation. The Islamic nations said the U.S. occupation should end as quickly as possible.
The United States has recently maintained a steady drumbeat of charges against Iran in recent weeks, accusing it trying to foster an Islamic revolution next door in Iraq and developing nuclear weapons.
Kharrazi said the Americans should stop threatening Iran and trying to interfere in its internal affairs.
He reiterated that Iran was trying to identify the Qaida operatives held in its jails — although he did not specify how many — and emphasized that it would continue to develop its civilian nuclear program.
He also denied that Iran was interfering in Iraq, calling such reports "baseless."
Iraqi social organizations helping to organize various cities should be applauded, not condemned, he insisted. He did not identify them directly, but was evidently referring to prominent Shiite Muslim organizations that the United States suspects are acting as a front for Iran's interests.
The foreign minister said the Americans would not relinquish power to the Iraqi people because the purpose of their occupation was to establish a permanent presence in the Persian Gulf. He said Iran's essential requirement was that the government next door remain friendly.
Kharrazi did not say it, but given that Iraq's population is at least 55 percent Shiite, a referendum would probably ensure their predominance and hence warm ties with Shiite Iran.
Kharrazi was not alone in lashing out at Washington. The accusations against Iran have afforded members of Iran's conservative factions a chance to burnish their revolutionary memories. At Friday prayers, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who retains considerable power in Iran, said Washington had vast influence in Iran before the 1979 revolution.
"The shah applied all their orders blindly," he said, his remarks occasionally interrupted by shouts of "Death to America!"
"But through our immense popular might, we expelled them, humbled them," he said. "How can they possibly imagine that they can return to Iran with ease?"
Rafsanjani also suggested that Iran was guilty by mere association with its fellow Shiites in Iraq. "The Iraqi people themselves feel strongly committed to their religion and faith," he said. "If they observe the Islamic dress code and refuse to drink liquor, are Iranians responsible?"
No one approached on the streets around Tehran University, where prayers are held, confessed to any unease about the sudden ratcheting up of anti-Iranian language in Washington. Most said they had heard it too many times to be even mildly worried, despite the U.S. military presence right over the border.
"They have been threatening us for more than 20 years, saying every six months that the regime here will change," said Akbar Hamidi, a 48-year-old bank clerk. "They can't get back in here. It's a wish they will carry with them to their graves."
Still, one man sidled up and said in English that many Iranians hoped that the U.S. pressure would force at least some change here, although American soldiers would not be welcome. It was an odd echo of the kind of remarks heard in Iraq in February.
"It's good when Bush says that the Iranian government should give the oil money to the Iranian people," a 26-year-old accountant said. "We are a very, very weak people with a tyrannical government. Anyone who speaks out is either put in jail or killed."
Several conservative commentators, while playing down the threats, conceded that the U.S. invasion of Iraq added a new twist. "The new conditions make the Iranians consider the threat to be more serious than in the past," the daily newspaper Hamshahri said in an editorial.