White House Considers Iran’s Peace Offering

The Clinton administration said Thursday it would take a “serious, hard look” at a proposal by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami for expanded cultural exchanges with Iran. But it said such activities are no substitute for a government-to-government dialogue.

Administration officials, after a review of Khatami’s comments, welcomed the “new tone” he expressed while rejecting his hostile characterizations of U.S. foreign policy and of Israel as a “racist, terrorist regime.”

Khatami told CNN in the interview aired Wednesday night that exchanges of scholars, artists, writers and tourists could help open “a crack in the wall of mistrust” between the two countries.

State Department spokesman James P. Rubin noted that U.S. journalists already visit Iran and that tourists go there as well. But he nonetheless saw Khatami’s offer as an opening.

As for the possibility of officially sponsored exchanges, Rubin said, “we are going to take a serious, hard look” at the option.