Tehran unimpressed by Saddam's overtures

But there was a new conciliatory message to Iran in the Iraqi leader's address this year: "Let us forget the past and open a new chapter in the relations between our two Muslim nations."

So, why all of a sudden these overtures to a nation which Saddam has portrayed unremittingly as the Iraqi people's mortal enemy?

The answer is simple: Saddam is looking for friends, and with good reason. As the stand-off with the United Nations on the issue of weapons inspections grows more tense, Iraq needs allies if its efforts to break the international isolation imposed on it in the wake of the 1990 invasion of Kuwait are to come to anything.

In fact, this was not Saddam's first endeavour to mend fences with Iran; neither will it be his last. Over the past few years he has repeatedly extended the hand of friendship, but on each occasion the Iranians have snubbed him. Even moderate Iranian President Mohamed Khatami who has been pushing through for better relations with Iran's Arab neighbours, seems unimpressed by Saddam's overtures.

The Iranians' reluctance does not stem merely from the fact that they do not trust Saddam but, more importantly, from their desire to punish him for the 1980-1988 war for which they hold the Iraqi leader personally responsible. Moreover, there is probably a good deal of satisfaction in Iranian circles at Saddam's frustrated efforts to end Iraq's isolation from the international community.

Indeed, Iran's response this time to Saddam's call for reconciliation was quick and unequivocal. "Iraq should send back all Iranian prisoners from the 1980-1988 war before talking about normalisation," said Hassan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council on Sunday.

"We should first identify and remove all the obstacles if we want to normalise ties between the two countries," he added in a report carried by Iran's Islamic News Agency. In view of the substantive issues that separate the sides and the unhappy memories of the war, the prospects of a thaw in relations of the kind Saddam seeks seem meagre.

In the meantime, Iraq has embarked on similar efforts with some key Arab countries that had severed relations over its invasion of Kuwait. Last Thursday Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz sent a letter to the Arab League's secretary-general, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, urging the organisation to back Iraq's attempts to end the crippling sanctions. Aziz complained bitterly that, although Iraq had fulfilled all its obligations under the Security Council's resolutions, the prospect for lifting the sanctions seemed as dim as ever.

In his letter to Abdel-Meguid, Aziz did not spell out what Iraq expected fellow Arabs to do to help Iraq, but obviously Baghdad wants the League's 22 member states to start breaking the sanctions themselves immediately without waiting for a United Nations decision. Such a move, Iraq argues, would be an important gesture of solidarity which Arabs are duty-bound to make and would serve as an example for other countries to follow.

Also, last week the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported that Iraq had officially asked Egypt to restore diplomatic relations. MENA said the request was made by Aziz during a meeting with the head of Egypt's Interests Section in Baghdad, Mahmoud Sharif Rihan. It quoted Aziz as telling Rihan that the recent improvement of ties between the two countries required a further push, meaning full diplomatic relations and the reopening of embassies in both Cairo and Baghdad.

Another request was reportedly made to Syria with whom Iraq's relations have never been good since rival factions of the Baath Party took over in the two countries in 1963 and 1968 respectively. They severed diplomatic ties in 1980 after Baghdad accused Damascus of backing a group of senior government and party leaders who tried to topple Saddam in a palace coup and of siding with Iran in the war that broke out the same year.

Although the two countries have improved economic relations in recent months as they increased their trade under the oil-for-food deal, there are signs that restoration of full diplomatic relations will have to wait for the time being. Syria still harbours Iraqi opposition groups trying to topple Saddam.

At the same time, Iraq has been attempting to build bridges with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, Saddam's staunchest enemies in the Arab world, trying to convince them that it is about time for a pan-Arab rapprochement. But, again, all to no avail, since the Gulf countries seem unwilling to budge for the moment.

Moreover, efforts to improve ties with Turkey, Iraq's powerful northern neighbour, have come to nothing. Turkey appears more interested in taking advantage of the chaotic situation in northern Iraq in its campaign against Kurdish rebels rather than giving Saddam a hand to end his isolation, a move which would incur the displeasure of Ankara's chief ally, the United States.

Meanwhile, Ankara continues to do business with Baghdad and generate millions of dollars in revenues thanks to the oil pipelines.