SOUTHWEST ASIA: Muslim Ministers Blast the U.S.

And softly ask the Soviets to leave Afghanistan

It says something about the conference of Islamic Foreign Ministers in Islamabad last week that one of the more moderate voices heard there was that of Iran's Sadegh Ghotbzadeh. "When we condemn the U.S. for supporting Israel in Palestine and for intervening in Viet Nam," said Ghotbzadeh, who was clearly the star of the six-day meeting, "we should not hesitate for one minute to condemn the Soviet Union for intervening in Afghanistan." Trailed by reporters wherever he went, the tall, dark-haired Iranian Foreign Minister went well beyond rhetorical denunciation of Moscow's "adventurism" in Afghanistan; he also included leaders of five Afghan rebel groups in his country's official delegation and warned that Iran might begin to arm and train the rebels unless the Soviets withdraw their troops. At the same time, Ghotbzadeh predictably denounced the abortive U.S. attempt to rescue 53 American hostages in Tehran last month as "another manifestation of American imperialism in the form of armed aggression."

The mood of the Islamic ministers, who represented 39 nations and the Palestine Liberation Organization, has changed considerably since they met in the Pakistani capital last January. The final resolution of that conference attacked the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as a "flagrant violation" of international law. The muted resolution adopted by last week's conference called for a Soviet troop withdrawal, but it also kowtowed to the Kremlin by urging a reasoned "political" approach to the problem.

Even as Soviet troops were crushing the Muslim rebellion in Afghanistan, the ministers in Islamabad set up a committee —made up of the organization's Tunisian secretary-general Habib Chatti, Iran's Ghotbzadeh and Pakistan's foreign affairs adviser Agha Shahi—to seek a "comprehensive solution" to the crisis through consultations with the concerned parties. The initiative, whose success seems problematical, reflected the delegates' desire for concrete action after the tough language of the earlier conference had failed to produce any results.

For all their lip service to international law and justice, the ministers virtually ignored Iran's illegal and inhumane detention of 53 U.S. citizens. Only through the efforts of Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal was a phrase inserted urging Tehran to solve the hostage question "in the spirit of Islam." The delegates denounced Washington for the hostage rescue attempt, which the resolution describes as "the recent American military aggression in Iran."

Less ambiguous than the Muslim ministers, the International Court of Justice at The Hague declared Iran guilty of "continuing breaches" of international law and ordered the immediate release of the hostages and payment of damages to the U.S. Tehran, which does not recognize the court's jurisdiction, is expected to defy the order. But some hopes for a break in the crisis were raised at week's end when three prominent Socialist party leaders—Sweden's Olof Palme, Spain's Felipe Gonzalez and Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky—met in Vienna and discussed the possibility of flying together to Tehran to probe the chances for the hostages' liberation.