Iran and U.S. Starting a New Dance

TEHRAN — Like any good guest, the new British ambassador here brought a present when he visited the cleric who heads Iran's chief foreign policy agency. It was far more important than a keepsake, flowers or pastry.

It was a message.

According to diplomats, envoy Richard Dalton reassured Iranians that there would be no place in a postwar Iraq for the militant group Moujahedeen Khalq, which is dedicated to overthrowing the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who fought an eight-year war against this nation in the 1980s, provides shelter and support for the group.

The cleric, Hassan Rowhani of the Supreme National Security Council, smiled at the news, which diplomats say also reflected the U.S. position. The Bush administration has labeled Moujahedeen Khalq a terrorist organization.

"This is a good sign," said a senior Iranian official. "Iran's concerns are being heard."

On the surface, it appears strange for a Western power to be reassuring Iran -- a member, along with Iraq and North Korea, of President Bush's "axis of evil." But Iran and the U.S., which was once branded the Great Satan here, are rediscovering an old adage: The friend of my enemy is my enemy, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

For months, Iran has discreetly accommodated U.S. plans to invade Hussein's nation, by aiding Iraqi dissidents and even helping to prevent oil smuggling by Iraq.

Both moves have hurt Hussein's regime while allowing Iran to present a constructive face to the West in hopes of broadening political ties to Europe and discouraging U.S. perceptions of the Islamic Republic as a threat.

The policy, termed "active neutrality" here, has had its difficult moments for this predominantly Shiite Muslim country. Iran, torn between fundamentalists and a restive population seeking political reform, cannot be seen as actively aiding the West, even against Iraq, a traditional enemy controlled by rival Sunni Muslims.

"After almost 25 years of chanting anti-U.S. slogans, we can't turn around and fight alongside America," said a senior Iranian official. "Even Kuwait can't announce that it's doing this. That's just the reality of the region."

The presence of an armed Iraqi opposition group inside Iran poses an added challenge for Tehran: how to back the fighters' ambitions in Iraq without running afoul of the U.S.