Finally, a Crack in the Door

By John Kahan

West German visitors find a newly conciliatory Tehran

The Persian Gulf war has dragged on without end, although not for want of peacemakers. During the past four years, many governments and organizations have offered to serve as intermediaries in the conflict between Iran and Iraq. But Iran has refused all help. The door has now opened a crack. After a two-day visit to Tehran, West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher reported last week that Iran was ready to "break through the ring of isolation" and "begin a political dialogue with the West."

Genscher was the first high-ranking Western official to set foot in Tehran since the 1979 revolution that brought

Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini to power. There were no signs during Genscher's visit that Iran's fanatical Shi'ite Muslim leaders had changed their opinion of the U.S. "devil," but West German officials found them less prone to heap verbal abuse on the West. When Genscher expressed concern about the fighting in the gulf, the Iranians said they were also eager to prevent the war from widening.

Parliamentary Leader Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had indicated earlier that he was giving serious consideration to an invitation from Saudi Arabia to go on hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. A Rafsanjani trip to Saudi Arabia would be an important symbolic step toward relieving tensions between the two nations, which were exacerbated when Saudi air force warplanes shot down an Iranian fighter over the gulf in June.

Diplomatic activity in the region has been hectic. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, for example, has conferred with the leaders of nonaligned countries about a peace initiative. "There is a glimmer of hope," said an Arab official last week. "For the first time the Iranians seem willing to entertain conversation about a settlement."

Only four months ago, Iranian officials bluntly told Turkish President Kenan Evren that they "saw no benefit in mediation." Their demands for peace talks: war reparations from Iraq and the ouster of President Saddam Hussein. Last May, however, the Iranians stopped demanding that Iraq pay for the war and accepted a U.N.-sponsored cease-fire protecting civilian targets. Iran not only agreed to allow observers into the country to monitor the ceasefire, but also urged that it be extended to gulf shipping. Iraq rejected the proposal because it made no allowances for the reopening of Iraqi ports, closed at the beginning of the war.

Hard economic realities have contributed to Tehran's apparent change of heart. Iran suffers from a serious balance of payments deficit. The country has had to discount its oil prices by between $2 and $5 per bbl. in order to lure tankers into gulf waters. Members of the Genscher delegation who had visited the Iranian capital before the revolution noticed a decline in the standard of living. Buildings that had been under construction five years before stood half finished.

Rumors of an imminent Iranian land offensive have now died away, and it seems unlikely that either country would increase hostilities during the torrid summer.

The Iranians, moreover, are plagued by shortages of artillery, spare parts for tanks and protective gear against chemical warfare; meanwhile, Iraqi forces are well entrenched. To Western diplomats last week, even this of tension was a hopeful sign of progress.

-- ByJohn Kohan. Reported Barry Hillenbrand/Baghdad and Gary Lee/Bonn

With reporting by Barry Hillenbrand; Gary Lee