A meeting of minds between Iran’s Muslim theocrats and Western governments remains no less elusive. But in Teheran, foreign diplomats saw President Hashemi Rafsanjani’s appeal for international relief as a sign Iran wants to end its international isolation. When one Teheran paper published an article declaring that “even under the debris, our nation cries out ‘Death to America’,” Rafsanjani reportedly told the editors to shut up. He also lauded foreign aid as “very reasonable and just”–including $760,000 from the U.S. government and $4 million in private U.S. aid.
Rafsanjani himself may salvage a great deal from the rubble. Welcoming emergency relief could pave the way for longer term economic aid. Iran’s economy is a disaster area. Eight years of war with neighboring Iraq and 11 years of theologically dictated economic policies have bred inflation, rationing and corruption. Iran has also been hurt by stagnant prices for its oil. Recently Rafsanjani pushed a five-year economic plan through Parliament, it will permit more borrowing abroad and foreign investment. It was a victory for Ratsanjani’s faction over Islamic fundamentalist radicals led by former interior minister Ali Akbar Mohtashemi and Ayatollah Khomeini’s son Ahmed.
Iran remains a society still largely bound by fundamentalist strictures. In February the son of former prime minister Mehdi Bazargan and other members of his Freedom Party, which espouses a more rapid opening to the West and a freer political system, were arrested. This year the annual spring campaign by Revolutionary Guards against immodest conduct was the harshest in four years; stories circulated of women receiving one whiplash per painted fingernail. Wedding parties and other suspect festivities were broken up. A Yugoslav businessman was dragged out of a car by his forbidden necktie. Ratsanjani apparently had to approve this crackdown as a concession to radical clerics. He refuses to withdraw Khomeini’s call for the assassination of British author Salman Rushdie and balks at helping release more hostages in Lebanon until the United States makes a “reciprocal gesture.” Says one politically moderate Iranian editor: “A struggle is going on, and the majority wants moderation. But the 10 percent [who don’t] have a very strong presence in the society.”
That was evident far away in the earthquake zones. Relief workers complained that hard-line mullahs in the bureaucracy delayed their work, in defiance of Rafsanjani. It was more than three days after the quake hit before most Western rescue workers were allowed to start combing the rubble. Near Manjil, turbaned mullahs cruised by in chauffeur-driven jeeps, while foreign relief workers were left pleading for transport to hard-hit mountain villages. “It is always like this,” said one student working in a devastated village. “We need to change. We need a different government.” Such sentiments are growing; people weary of revolution and war find themselves spent by the quake. The question was whether Rafsanjani’s cautious pragmatism will bring about the real changes Iran needs.
