UK News 25-09-2001 Israelis Object To Straw`s Trip To Iran who: Foreign Secretary Jack Straw what: Meets president Mohammed Khatami on landmark visit where: Iran when: Today snippet: Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, is on a landmark visit to Iran, reports The Telegraph, where he hopes to help secure support "for an international coalition against terrorism, and for strikes against Osama bin Laden and his Afghan hosts." Making the first visit by a British foreign secretary since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Mr Straw "flew into the lion`s den," says The Sun`s George Pascoe-Watson in a tortured mixture of metaphors "and prepared to walk a diplomatic tightrope." "Mr Straw will meet Iran`s president, Mohammed Khatami, today," says The Guardian. "After two decades of roller coaster relations between London and Tehran - which reached a nadir in the fatwa condemning Salman Rushdie to death for his book The Satanic Verses - this trip marks a breakthrough." But the BBC reports that as a result of the trip to Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "has decided not to meet Mr Straw when he flies to Israel later on Tuesday." Although officially Mr Sharon is too busy to attend the meeting, commentators agree that he has snubbed Mr Straw over comments to an Iranian newspaper about events "in Palestine" - a state which Israel refuses to recognise. The visit has been described by some Israelis as anti-semitic. [... more]

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