Several statements apparently were designed to play to hard-line fundamentalist elements within his own government. His statements regarding the relations between the US and Israel were such that many observers in the US consider that to be a major impediment between restoring relations with the Iranians. The Iranians also brought up the need to cease the freeze on Iranian assets that were seized as a result of the capture of the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Those assets have remained frozen in US banks until relations between the US and Iran would improve to the point that they can negotiate what will come of the money and assess the damages to both countries.
In many instances, the Iranian President sounded conciliatory towards the US but at other points, he purposely took a strong stance that would give the appearance of an unwillingness to open relations. President Khatami obviously studied his audience, both at home and in the US and made a speech carefully crafted to meet his needs. Those needs include the necessity to placate hard-line elements at home as well as the need to push his country forward economically and technologically that would only come with renewed relations with the US.
One interesting point that came up during his interview was the attitude that the US has towards the rest of the world in terms of trying to influence other nation's policies and attitudes to match US attitudes. This point should be carefully examined by US diplomats and policy makers as this is the source of much of the disputes in the world today. Too often national leaders seek to encourage policy that runs counter to regional or national beliefs of other countries and this leads to unnecessary conflict and a waste of diplomatic energies that would best be spent elsewhere.
In other news, the Iraqi government was looking to increase the percentage of oil that it can sell on the open market in return for humanitarian aid that was part of the UN embargo arrangements. Iraq is looking to double the amount of oil that it can sell on the open market. This may have the effect of further depressing worldwide oil prices so that it may be some time before the UN decides whether to grant Iraq this increase. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government continues to dodge accusations that it is continuing to develop chemical and biological weapons covertly. Pictures were recently published suggesting that Iraq has used these weapons against certain prisoners to test their effects. I'm sure this is not the last we'll be hearing about this.
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