Date: 07 Mar 2000
Time: 07:44:42
Remote Name: 156.29.145.175
03/07/2000 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2000.
LOS ANGELES, March 7 (Reuters) - The United States is considering scrapping trade sanctions on Iranian caviar, carpets and pistachio nuts in a bid to improve relations with Tehran, the Los Angeles Times said on Tuesday.
The paper quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying the Clinton administration was close to a decision and the move was one of several gestures of goodwill being considered in light of progress toward economic and political reform in Iran .
"We clearly view the parliamentary elections as an important step, and we want to make clear our attitude, that we think it would be very desirable to have better channels of communication," the paper quoted a senior administration official as saying.
He was referring to parliamentary elections in Iran last month in which a pro-reform coalition backing President Mohammad Khatami swept to a majority.
Members of the coalition have called on Washington to take the first concrete steps towards improving relations, which broke down after the Islamic revolution in 1979 and the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by militant students.
U.S. laws and regulations currently prohibit virtually all commercial transactions with Iran , which Washington accuses of supporting what it calls terrorist groups.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, said in an interview published last week that the election in Iran could pave the way for "important developments" in bilateral relations "if the Iranian government responds positively to the American position on the issue of state sponsorship of terrorism and cooperating in solving regional problems".
There was no immediate comment from the State Department on the Los Angeles Times report.