Red Tape Blocking US Food Sales to Iran Senator

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For the second time in two days, a senator has called on the Clinton administration to ease its new rules for making food sales to Iran. The requests follow Iran's decision to bypass the U.S. market this week and purchase more than 1 million tons of wheat from Canada. In a statement Thursday, Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, urged President Clinton to tell the Treasury Department to revise its new regulations. "The president needs to intervene," Dorgan said. "He needs to insist that the Treasury Department come up with regulations that allow his policy to work." The new rules, issued earlier this month, stem from a U.S. policy change in April to exempt food, medicine and medical equipment from economic sanctions on Iran, Sudan and Libya. But grain firms complain the Treasury Department rules still make sales difficult because of a prohibition on U.S. exporters dealing directly with banks in the three countries. Dorgan blamed the bank ban for the Government Trading Corp. of Iran's failure to follow-through on an order it placed with Niki Trading Co. last fall for 3.55 million tons of U.S. food products, including 2 million tons of wheat. "This is a huge potential sale, sorely needed by U.S. producers who are fighting to survive collapsed prices," Dorgan said. "The president's policy is that such sales should be made. Government red tape shouldn't block it." Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, blasted the Clinton administration on Wednesday for banning the use of U.S. export credit guarantees to help finance food sales to Iran. U.S. wheat can't compete with wheat from Canada or Europe without financing assistance, Roberts said. Banning the use of export credits on sales to Iran makes the administration's policy change a "sham," Roberts said. Despite the shortcomings cited by Dorgan and Roberts, U.S. exporters have managed to sell 50,000 tons of corn to Iran since the new regulations were issued, according to the Agriculture Department. However, some Iranian officials have denied the purchase.

Senator Urges US Credits for Food Sales to Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading farm state senator accused the Clinton administration Wednesday of wasting an important opportunity to boost U.S. wheat exports by refusing to help finance food sales to Iran. Sen. Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican, made the complaint in a letter to President Clinton and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman just one day after Iran bought more than one million metric tons of wheat from Canada. Without the financing assistance provided by the Agriculture Department's GSM-102 program, U.S. wheat "is simply not competitive against Canada and the EU," Roberts said. "By failing to provide export financing to Iran, your administration has wasted an important opportunity to open up a new market and improve prices for U.S. farmers," he said. Roberts' home state of Kansas is the leading U.S. wheat producer. Earlier this month, the Clinton administration issued new rules clearing the way for sales of U.S. food, medicine and medical equipment to Iran, Sudan and Libya. Sales of other U.S. goods remain restricted because of the countries' suspected support of terrorism. The Clinton administration also has ruled out government export credit assistance for food sales to the three nations. Of the three countries, Iran is the biggest potential market. It has imported 5.6 million metric tons of wheat since March because of severe drought that has reduced its production, an Iranian Deputy Trade Minister said Tuesday. Many grain traders doubt the United States will make any substantial wheat sales to Iran unless it receives GSM-102 export credit financing. The refusal to provide government credits "makes a sham" out of the Clinton administration's decision to allow food sales to Iran, Roberts said.

Iranian Leader Urges Government to Focus on Economy

TEHRAN - XINHUA - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday urged the government of President Mohammad Khatami to focus on economy, saying it is "the main issue facing the country." "Looking at people's life even with an ordinary outlook, one would undoubtedly find out that the most important problem of the country is economy," said Khamenei, who is powerful in any decision-making, but largely detached in day-to-day running of the country. Khamenei's words at the beginning of the "Government Week" , which runs from Tuesday to next Monday, echoed widespread complaints about the government's poor performance in improving people's living standards. Iran's oil-dependent economy suffered because of weak oil prices in the world market over the past years. The "Government Week" was to mark the 1981 killing in a bomb attack of the then President Mohammad Ali Rajaie and Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar. Meeting with Khatami and his cabinet, Khamenei appreciated the government's hard work and praised the moderate president for his "capability" and "qualification." With the recovery of crude prices on the world market, there is hope that Iran's economy will gear up. In a development plan for the next five years, the government expects economic growth to proceed at a speed of 6 percent each year. At present, the annual growth rate is only 3.2 percent. Khamenei urged the government to seriously follow up the third Five-Year Development Plan "so that the programs adopted by the government to remove economic problems become evident." According to the official Islamic Republic News Agency, the leader voiced his constant support for the government and termed as necessary the principled criticism and review of the government's function. He also called for unity and solidarity despite factional struggle between moderates and hardliners. "Division and partitioning of the system at higher levels is only to the benefit of enemies," he added.

New top cop in Teheran

BBC- The authorities in Iran have appointed a new head of police in the capital, Teheran. Brigadier-General Mohsen Ansari takes over from Farhad Nazari, who was strongly criticised in a government inquiry report into a police raid on a student dormitory last month. The raid sparked the worst street violence in Teheran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The students had been protesting about a ban on a liberal newspaper.

Iranian Softens Stance on Dancing

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Dancing just for the fun of it is a no-no in Iran these days. But sword dancing elevates the mind, Iran's minister of culture and Islamic guidance was quoted as saying Monday. ``Folk dances such as the dance of the swords are among the arts which elevate the thought of mankind, so dancing should not be always known as an indecent act,'' the Farsi daily Neshat quoted Reformist Minister Ataollah Mohajerani as saying. Mohajerani made the comment at the end of a cultural and arts festival in Iran's eastern province of Sistan Baluchestan, said the liberal newspaper monitored in Dubai. Social dancing had been among the most popular entertainment for Iranians before the 1979 Islamic revolution, but afterward it was virtually banned. Still, many Iranians indulge at parties in their homes.