CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — By giving sanctuary to Iraqi planes and offering to mediate an end to the Persian Gulf War, Iran has surprised the world. Yet these moves reflect significant, though subtle, changes in revolutionary Iran's foreign policy. In the long run, their effects on the Middle East may be as consequential as the changes in Soviet foreign policy have been for Eastern Europe.

The potential to wield such influence is not simply a function of Iran's large population and strong industrial base. Nor is it primarily due to Iran being home to the world's second richest natural-gas reserves, as well as important oil reserves. Rather, revolutionary Iran is now breaking free of 10 years of self-imposed isolation and anti-Western confrontation, directly extending its conciliatory hand from the shores of the Persian Gulf to the banks of the Potomac. Why?

Within Iran's leadership, pragmatists, led by President Hashemi Rafsanjani, now control foreign policy. Despite his harsh rhetoric, Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was actually the author, when he was president, of Iran's "open-door foreign policy," first hinted as early as 1984. Even within the Majlis, or Parliament, where the most anti-Western, anti-American deputies hold influential seats, there are more than enough representatives to support such important moves as the resumption of diplomatic relations with Britain. More important, the radical leaders find little support among the Iranian population, as evidenced by the poor turnout at anti-U.S. rallies they call.

Tehran's highest priority today is economic reconstruction. Toward that end, the Rafsanjani administration stresses economic growth and productivity, the return of skilled Iranians from abroad and privatization of the economy. Iran's first five-year plan had to await the end of its nearly eight-year war with Iraq and the presidency of Rafsanjani, but its implementation requires massive amounts of domestic and foreign capital, the latter estimated at $27 billion. Hence, the need for Iran to re-enter the world economy through cooperation with other nations.

Iran is competing with Soviet and East European demands for Western capital. The emergence of the European Community as a world economic giant also compels Iran to behave. While the end of the Cold War has diminished the traditional strategic and political usefulness of the West for Iran as a counterweight to the East, it has made both the East and the West attractive sources of aid for Iran's economic reconstruction.