Ambitious Plan
Iran's ambitious agenda for dealing with the suspects -- secure a deal over the Moujahedeen Khalq and win points with the West while staying in the good graces of Arab governments and public opinion -- has created a set of conditions for any hand-over that one Western diplomat described as "following a classic Iranian pattern of bargaining so hard that the deal is lost."
"As always, we're losing out on these important chances," the senior Iranian official said, "because we can't negotiate with the United States directly, and our domestic problems mess things up."
How to deal with the Moujahedeen Khalq -- also known by the initials MKO -- may be a sticking point in any negotiations. Iranian officials have accused Washington of double standards in the war on terrorism, pressuring Iran to round up suspected Al Qaeda operatives but allowing the MKO -- which is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations -- to retain a presence in Iraq.
Western officials have argued that Iran cannot equate the two organizations and that Tehran would be best served by cooperating rather than trying to drive a hard bargain.
"The MKO doesn't pose a global, imminent threat on the scale of Al Qaeda," said a Western diplomat in Tehran. "The Iranians accept this, but want to keep the moral high ground so they can link the two issues."
Some countries whose nationals may be among the detainees -- Kuwait and Saudi Arabia -- are U.S. allies. Tehran fears it cannot rely on assurances from such countries that U.S. officials will not be permitted to interrogate the fugitives and that intelligence relating to their time in Iran will be withheld from Washington. Tehran is concerned that the U.S. could use such information to accuse Iran of support for Al Qaeda.
Times staff writer Greg Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
