Iran to join U.S.-led coalition

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, SEPT. 21. Britain today claimed a major breakthrough in its efforts to enlarge and consolidate the U.S.-sponsored international coalition against terrorism with Iran agreeing to come on board after the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, spoke to the moderate Iranian President, Mr. Mohammed Khatami, on Thursday, described as the first-ever conversation between the leaders of the two countries since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Jack Straw, will visit Teheran next week to discuss the nature and extent of the Iranian cooperation amid speculation over how far the hardliners would allow Mr. Khatami to go. There was much self-congratulation here over the development with commentators hailing it as a diplomatic ``coup'' for Mr. Blair who took the initiative to call up Mr. Khatami, and experts said that even if, in the end, Iran was not able to offer much beyond an exchange of intelligence, the psychological impact of having an important Muslim state in what many regard as an ``anti-Islamic'' coalition would be enormous.

Mr. Blair, who spoke to Mr. Khatami from his plane while on his way to the U.S., was reported to be visibly excited as he told journalists accompanying him that he had just finished a phone call which he could not have imagined having a few weeks ago. Calling it a ``remarkable'' conversation, he said: ``Not only did he give his full solidarity in terms of what had happened to the U.S. and his condemnation of terrorism, but also said how important it was that out of that we rebuild the relationship between our two countries as well.''

Commentators said getting Iran into the Western alliance would count as a major triumph for British diplomacy which has seen Mr. Blair criss-cross the Atlantic this week as Washington's key mediator. Iran's willingness to join the coalition was said to be significant as anti-U.S. feelings there still run high and it does not have diplomatic relations with Washington. The Times said Mr. Blair's success in enlisting Teheran's support gave some idea of Britain's huge ``behind-the-scenes effort'' to construct and hold a coalition of more than 100 countries in the hunt for those responsible for the Sept. 11 atrocities in America.

It pointed out that without Iran's support any military operation in the region would be ``harder to undertake'' and it would become that much more difficult to get the cooperation of other ``radical'' Muslim regimes. Although Iran has ruled out the use of its airspace for any U.S. action against Afghanistan, its hostility to the Sunni Taliban regime is seen as a blessing by Western analysts.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reported a ``secret'' U.S. plan to topple the Taliban regime and prop up an interim government under the United Nations auspices. In a front- page story, the paper said the U.S. was pressing its Western allies to agree to a military campaign for the ``liberation'' of Afghanistan from the Taliban. The plan, it said, involved resurrecting the former Afghan king, Zahir Shah, who lives in exile in Italy since he was deposed in a coup in 1973.

The Guardian said it had seen diplomatic cables in which Washington sought the views of NATO allies on ``post-Taliban Afghanistan after the liberation of the country''. The cables, it said, revealed that the U.S. administration was ``bent on force to evict the Taliban from power'' and support the campaign of Zahir Shah to return to power ``by encouraging the guerilla army of the Northern Alliance opposition to fall in behind him.''

Mr. Blair, who met the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, in Washington on Thursday, gave further indication of British military participation in any U.S. operation, saying there was no ``flinching from action''. He said it was a ``huge and heavy responsibility'' but in a climate of growing terrorism ``we have no option but to act''.

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