Jordan Times
Thursday, December 4, 1997

Jordan, Iran seek to improve ties after years of estrangement

By Alia A. Toukan

AMMAN - Despite a recent growing rapprochement between Jordan and Iran, bilateral political ties are likely to remain cool because of differences over Middle East peace and other strategic regional issues, Jordanian officials and analysts say.

Though trade, cultural, and religious links have received a strong boost over the last years, the mistrust that has clouded ties since the 1979 Islamic revolution and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war, is likely to continue for a while.

"If there is an intention to improve relations, this will predominantly be on the trade level," an Iranian specialist told the Jordan Times, "but political contacts will remain cautious."

Despite widespread media speculation that His Majesty King Hussein was to head Jordan's team to the Dec. 9-11 Islamic summit in Tehran, the government announced on Tuesday that His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hassan will lead the delegation. It will be the first such high-level visit to Iran since the revolution that toppled Shah Reza Pahlavi, once Jordan's avowed ally.

The make-up of the team - Prime Minister Abdul-Salam Majali, Senate Speaker Zeid Rifai and the ministers of religious, trade and foreign affairs - reflects Jordan's desire to boost economic and religious links and to gradually improve political links.

However, another Jordanian political source cautioned against reading too much into the Crown Prince's visit. "First and foremost, he is going to Iran to attend the Islamic conference. And true there is a political gesture that is being sent to the Iranians, but this is secondary," he maintains.

Jordanian-Iranian ties have been marred by nearly 20 years of deep mutual mistrust because of opposing political positions on major regional issues: the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war, Arab-Israeli peace and the row between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over three disputed Gulf islands. Arab states have long urged Tehran to end its occupation of these islands.

Iran has also been angered by Amman's tacit agreement to allow the anti-Iran Mujahedeen Khalq group to have a presence in Jordan and maintain media contacts. Official sources say activity by the Mujahedeen in the Kingdom remains unofficial.

Jordan and Iran suspended political ties in 1980 after Amman announced it was backing Baghdad in its war with Tehran. However, Iran had an "interest's section" working under the Pakistani flag throughout the official suspension of relations.

Despite the resumption of ties in 1991, political relations remained tense and contacts have been kept to a minimum.

The appointment of Mr. Ahmed Destamalichian, Iran's first ambassador to Jordan after both countries resumed ties, raised eyebrows because of his reported role in helping set up the pro-Iranian Muslim Hizbollah Party in Lebanon while he served at his country's mission there in the early 1980s.

Tension re-surfaced after Jordan signed its peace treaty with Israel in 1994 and climaxed a year later when both capitals entered a diplomatic tug-of-war and expelled diplomats claiming they were engaged in "undiplomatic activities."

But many Iranian observers in the Kingdom claim that the Palace has been careful to maintain some form of contact with Iran despite tough anti-Iranian stands by successive governments.

And Prince Hassan has on many occasions gone out of his way to stress the need to accept Iran as a regional player and to criticise the American policy of "dual containment" (of Iraq and Iran).

The descent of Jordan's Royal Family from the Prophet Mohammed, and the Crown Prince's interest in promoting Muslim issues have helped win the regime a soft spot in Iranian strategic thinking. This, analysts say, was evident in Tehran's decision not to cut relations with Amman after Jordan signed the treaty with Israel.

Officials and analysts agree that Iran has been initiating gestures to warm relations with Jordan since 1991, but Amman has so far remained cautious.

They say the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988, Iran's political isolation in the region, Arab backing of the five-year-old Middle East peace process, and the May victory of Iranian President Mohammed Khatami were factors that prompted Iran to re-think its policies towards the Arab states, including Jordan.

His Majesty King Hussein cabled Mr. Khatami after his landslide victory referring to him as "our cousin" and wishing him success.

On Jordan's part, there has been a gradual realisation over the past three years among some segments of the Jordanian bureaucracy and security apparatus that improving Jordanian-Iranian ties would also be in Jordan's strategic interest, especially on the trade level, one source says. However, others disagree and say even if there has been a change of heart, it has not been more than skin deep.

Some analysts say two factors continue to limit improvement in ties with Iran - its perceived backing of terrorist activities, albeit indirectly, aimed at destabilising Jordan - a charge persistently denied by Tehran - and its strong opposition to Arab-Israeli peace.

"Until there is a conviction among officials and the security establishment that Iran has stopped attempts to meddle in Arab states' internal affairs and to wreck the peace process by backing terrorism in the region, relations will remain cool," says a source.

Other analysts have rejected such assumptions saying Iran is not interested in harming Jordan. "Iran has no interest in destabilising Jordan, and is fully aware of the regime's legitimacy in the eyes of its people," maintains one source.

However, others maintain that on the regional level, Iran continues to have a strong interest in seeing the peace process falter.

"If the process resumes and there is movement on the Syrian and Lebanese peace tracks, then Hizbollah would eventually have to be disbanded, and Iran would be stripped of any oversized role in the Middle East."

However, the question remains: how can Iran and Jordan reconcile attempts at moving closer politically while maintaining opposing stands on the peace process?

Some say Jordan cannot make major strides towards Iran in the absence of collective Arab and international efforts to open up to Tehran.

Analysts say Jordan will continue to find itself in a tough position trying to juggle priorities now that it has gone out on a limb to cement its fragile peace treaty with Israel and move peace on other Arab tracks. It also enjoys close links with the United States, Iran's key Western foe.

But analysts agree that Iran has showed great flexibility towards Jordan. It made an exception by keeping its envoy in Jordan after Amman signed the treaty, though it recalled its ambassador to Egypt after Cairo made peace with Israel in 1979.

And while it has used the harshest of words to condemn Israeli-Palestinian peace deals, it has shown greater tolerance to Jordan's peace deal, although occasionally criticising it, the analysts say.

This, however, does not signal Iranian acceptance of Jordan's policy of normalising ties with Israel, officials and analysts say.

"Statements by Iranian sources indicate that there is greater pragmatism on behalf of Tehran, and a growing awareness of Jordan's vulnerable geo-political position in the region," one politician maintains.

"Jordan is a small country, with a small population and has a small military," he says. "It has the longest border with Israel and has its own national security policies and interests to pursue. These are all considerations that have recently come into play in Iranian thinking in relation to the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty," continues the source.

Some analysts say Mr. Destamalichian, the former ambassador to Jordan, also played an instrumental role in explaining Jordan's predicament to his government after it signed the controversial treaty.

But most analysts agree there is a golden opportunity for Jordanian-Iranian links to improve. "In Iran, the people are moving away from the idea of a permanent Islamic revolution... The election of Khatami was a clear indication of that."