In response to the verdict, all the members of the European Union except Greece withdrew their ambassadors from Tehran in protest. Iran said it would retaliate by pulling its diplomats out of those countries in return.
Students have demonstrated at the German embassy in Tehran three times since the verdict, threatening to seize it -- as they once did to the U.S. embassy -- unless Germany apologized. Riot police fought with the students yesterday to keep them from occupying the embassy compound. Tehran radio said crowds marched in cities across Iran to protest the ruling. Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said, "By taking their recent move, the Germans were caught in a trap set by the Zionists, thus harming the century-old relations between Tehran and Bonn." Iran has repeatedly denied any role in the killings, which it blames on infighting between opposition groups.
But Iran has a well-documented record of terrorism and the German court ruling is highly credible. The ruling tends to support the U.S. policy of banning diplomatic and trade relations with Iran until it ends support for terrorism. It is an embarrassment to the European governments that have moved cautiously toward normalization.
German and Iranian officials have indicated privately that their governments have no desire to further strain relations over the court ruling. Germany is Iran's biggest trade partner and friend in the West.
Since the death of the Ayatollah Khomeini the government has tried to restore normal relations with other countries, particularly in Western Europe. But the German court verdict cannot be ignored in any evaluation of Iranian behavior. Tehran must demonstrate that it has abandoned such tactics.
A balance has to be struck between the need to screen visitors and the economic benefits of tourism. But there should be a way to make travel to the United States more accessible to Koreans. It sure would help Hawaii.
Attempting to impose American standards on other countries isn't likely to work. If it does, the beneficiaries probably won't be the exploited workers in foreign lands, who may lose their jobs and fail to find others. Or American consumers, who may find prices going up. The beneficiaries could be American workers whose standards would be protected by demanding improvements abroad.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor