Word: rafsanjani
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Iran's Reintegration. A Western diplomat in Riyadh calls Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani's performance during the gulf conflict a "tour de force." By offering sanctuary to Iraqi planes, he mollified his troublesome right wing. By not returning them, he won points with the allies; he may also get to keep the jets as partial reparation for losses sustained by Iran in its own war with Iraq. In general, Iran's neutrality brought the country some international respectability, and even Washington is assessing the possibility of more cordial relations...
...clear explanation came from Tehran. Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani did assure the U.S.-led coalition, however, that the decision to provide sanctuary to some of Saddam's most sophisticated French and Soviet fighters and most of his SU-24 Fencer bombers would not affect Iran's neutral status. The planes, Iranian officials said, will be impounded and held until hostilities end. They also insisted that no deal had been cut with Baghdad in advance...
...Saddam Hussein, Iran is giving him hope that should he outlast the U.N. coalition, he can still retain some of his military muscle. By helping out Saddam, Rafsanjani is assuaging the feelings of radical Islamic factions within Iran's parliament, who are unhappy to see Iran ignore the pummeling of fellow Muslims by Western forces...
...conflict. Not long after Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, Saddam, in a clear effort to keep Tehran neutral, announced that he would release Iranian prisoners of war and give up Iranian territory still held from the Iran-Iraq war. The gulf conflict also has given Rafsanjani an opening to repair relations with Saudi Arabia and the other gulf states, which supported Iraq in its war with Iran. According to a senior Saudi official, Tehran, as a reward for its neutrality, is asking for loans and a lifting of the quota limiting Iranian participation in the annual Muslim pilgrimage...
...most important advantage Iran hopes to gain is the opportunity to emerge as an influence broker in the postwar gulf. Until now, Tehran has been on the sidelines, frustrated at the prospect of being excluded from the horse trading that will take place after the war. Rafsanjani's immediate goal is to head off any possible moves by coalition members, particularly Turkey and Syria, to carve up Iraq after it is defeated. Iran fears that Turkey may claim Iraqi Kurdistan and its oil-rich areas of Mosul and Kirkuk, once part of the Ottoman empire, and that Syria may attempt...