Mixed Signals To Iran, The Boston Globe Editorial, May 6 

… After a German court ruled that Iran's top leaders had ordered a contract killing in Berlin of four dissident Iranian Kurds, all EU members save Greece withdrew their ambassadors from Tehran. This week, in a show of hypocrisy, the European states decided to send their ambassadors back but drew a fig leaf over their shame by saying high-level ministerial meetings with Iran would remain suspended for a while…

The lesson for Washington is that the Europeans do not want to be deflected from their pursuit of commerce with Iran even when the mullahs are caught red-handed committing murder in the German capital. The Clinton administration's pretense that the suspension of interministerial contacts marked a victory for US policy amounts to willful self-delusion…

The best way for Washington to contain these threats would be to develop a multilateral approach not only with European allies, but also with Russia, China, and Japan.

The effort at consultation and cooperation is worth making. But the threat from Tehran will only become more dangerous if multilateralism means the United States must emulate the obsequious policies of France and Germany. Multilateralism should be based on a common understanding that the goal of cooperation is to limit and deter Tehran's export of terrorism - until Iranians can rid themselves of their clerical dictatorship.

Mullahs' Untamed Terrorism, Assaults on Iranian Kurds, Iran Zamin News Agency, May 6

According to a statement by the National Council of Resistance, "Terrorists of the mullahs' anti-human regime have in recent days killed, wounded and abducted three members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran."

The statement quotes Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the NCR, as saying: "The persistence of the regime's unbridled terrorism confirms that the only principled policy in dealing with this regime is to sever diplomatic and trade ties with it.

Mr. Rajavi also demanded the cases of mullahs' terrorism be reopened in European countries, its violations of human rights and state-terrorism referred to the U.N. Security Council, and its leaders tried in an international tribunal.

Austria Holds Emergency Debate on Kurds' Assassination, Reuter, May 6

VIENNA - Austria's parliament held an emergency debate on Tuesday to enable opposition parties to press the government to respond to allegations it colluded in the flight of suspected Iranian assassins in July 1989.

The opposition Liberal Forum tabled 60 questions to Foreign Minister and conservative People's Party leader Wolfgang Schuessel relating to the murder in Vienna of an Iranian Kurdish and two other activists.

"Do you see any link between the escape of the Kurds' killers in 1989 and the good relationship between Austria and Iran, which has been characterized more by building up economic ties than discussing human rights?" the Liberal Forum said in a question tabled during the debate, which was likely to last into the night.

 

"Critical Dialogue" Is "Dead in the Water", Associated Press, May 6 WASHINGTON -

The European Union's policy of a "critical dialogue" with Iran is finished unless the Tehran government makes major changes in its behavior, a top EU official said Tuesday.

Sir Leon Brittan, the European Commission vice president, said the policy was "dead in the water, holed beyond repair and will not proceed ... unless there is a fundamental change in the Iranian government's orientation."

 

Rushdie Calls EU's Decision on Iran "Contemptible", Reuter, May 6

LONDON - Author Salman Rushdie on Tuesday condemned as "contemptible" a decision by the European Union to allow its ambassadors to return to Tehran despite evidence of Iran's involvement in terrorism… "Frankly I think it is pathetic. I was very surprised that after the...trial actually convicted the Iranian leadership of terrorism in a German court that...after token gestures nothing was done," Rushdie told CNN television in an interview.

"It is pretty contemptible that Europe was unable to respond to the proof that terrorism had taken place on European soil. If people are trying to construct an idea of Europe which we all want to belong to, they can't do so if they don't take into account these human rights aspects," Rushdie added…

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