Posted on: Monday, September 2, 2002

Let's not give up on Iranian reforms

Five years ago, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami ran on a platform of freedom and democracy. So it's hardly surprising that voters who swept the moderate cleric into a landslide victory are growing restless with the sluggish pace of reform.

Right now, Khatami is pledging to present a bill to parliament that should strengthen his own authority and weaken the grip of the Islamic hard-liners who are blocking democracy in Iran.

We hope Khatami can pull it off. Clearly, he needs help.

While Khatami's proposed expansion of presidential powers will likely be passed by the reformist-led parliament, it could be blocked by the hard-line, unelected Guardian Council, an oversight body that adheres to a strict Islamic law.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other conservative clerics control the military and unelected judiciary, even though they represent the minority. Meanwhile, the majority of Iranians, as President Bush has pointed out, "want the same freedoms, human rights and opportunities as people around the world."

But while the European Union is maintaining a dialogue with Tehran, the United States is turning a cold shoulder.

Instead of watching Iran return to a Mullah-led theocracy and demonizing OPEC's second largest oil producer as part of an "axis of evil," the Bush administration might consider improving diplomatic relations with Iran's reformist forces.

Every day, progressively minded Iranians risk imprisonment for resisting conservative restrictions on dress, music and other aspects of daily life. Dozens of reformist newspapers have been shut down and reformists have been jailed in closed trials.

Sure, the reformists could do a better job of pushing for democracy. But it's too early to give up on them.