IRAN - Sept. 30 - Tehran Rallies Islamic States Against US Action.

FM Kamal Kharrazi says Islamic states like Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia should collectively seek ways of bolstering the Islamic position and avoiding a clash of civilisations with the West. He is in Egypt on the last leg of a tour ahead of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting in Doha on Oct. 9. He says Tehran would support the fight against terrorism, but only if it is conducted under the auspices of the UN and not the US. He adds: "How can the US lead the international campaign to fight terrorism when it supports Israel and Israeli terrorism?" He had talks with Egyptian Pres. Mubarak. (Iran and Syria both back the Shiite group Hizbollah, which operates in southern Lebanon. Regarded as a terrorism organisation by the US, Hizbollah is admired across the Arab World for having driven Israel out of Lebanon. Iranian politicians as well as the reformist and conservative media, express misgivings about the latest UN anti-terrorism resolution, questioning US influence over the world body. Iran has strongly condemned the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington as acts of terrorism against innocent civilians. But after initial expressions of sympathy, the tone changed abruptly on Sept. 27 as Ayat. Khamen'i bluntly ruled out any support for a US-led campaign, in Afghanistan or elsewhere, and called on Islamic nations to take an independent stance. In the same breath Iran is conveying a message to the West that Khatami, the moderate president, can play a significant role in defusing a confrontation between Islam and western civilisation. But the reverse may be regarded as an implicit threat by the US administration and some Western-leaning Arab states that still regard Iran, and its revolutionary roots, with suspicion. Analysts in Tehran say the US and its allies should not underestimate the danger of an Islamic backlash in the region over US military operations in Afghanistan. Kharrazi won expressions of support during visits to Lebanon, Syria and Egypt, with all agreeing on the need for a common position to be worked out at the OIC meeting. Kharrazi's talks with Mubarak were the highest-level meeting between the two countries since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The US brands both Iran and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. At each stop, Kharrazi accused Western governments of double standards and made clear Iran and the US differed completely over the definition of terrorism. "The Muslim world cannot close its eyes to terrorist actions committed by Israel and cannot equate terrorism with attempts by people under occupation to recover their land", Kharrazi declared in defence of Iran's support for Hizbollah and militant Palestinian groups. In his policy-setting speech, Ayat. Khamen'i declared a jihad, or holy war, on terrorism that should be led by the UN. But he also warned that the UN could not be trusted if it was "influenced" by the US and other big powers. "We do not have good experience over such matters in the past". This sentiment was echoed in reaction to the US-sponsored resolution passed by the UN Security Council on Sept. 28. The resolution requires UN member states to freeze funds and assets of terrorists, and deny shelter to anyone involved in a terrorist attack. Iran's newspapers and some parliamentarians say the resolution did not define terrorism. In the past, Iran has declined to ratify several UN conventions on terrorism. Some include requirements to share intelligence and take action against financing of terrorist suspects. The latest coincided with the release of a UN report strongly criticising Iran's human rights record. Iran's Foreign Ministry rejected the report, by Maurice Copithorne, UN special envoy, as "politically motivated and another futile attempt to tarnish the image of the Islamic republic").