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Storm over 'vicious' RFE By Cory Oldweiler Iran pulls Prague ambassador; Iraq decries broadcasts Both Iran and Iraq made it clear that the Czech Republic will pay a price for allowing the United States to broadcast what they consider anti-government Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty programs to their countries from Czech soil. Just four days after the station began its controversial broadcasts Oct. 30 the Iranian government recalled its Prague ambassador back to Tehran and Iraq's foreign minister warned that the transmissions will harm Czech-Iraqi relations. A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy said Ambassador Jafar Hashemi would remain in Iran until the end of the year, when the Czech government will review the economic and political consequences of the broadcasts. If the Czechs renew their support of the broadcasts, the recall will be permanent, the spokesman said. Iranian officials also have threatened to file an international complaint against the United States concerning the broadcasts with the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The U.S. Congress funds RFE/RL. Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf told the Iraqi Parliament Nov. 2 that the broadcasts of what he called an "anti-Iraq" station would harm future trade relations between the Czech Republic and Iraq. "There are Arab and foreign countries ... exerting efforts with the present Czech government to give up its vicious move," Reuters quoted al-Sahaf as saying. Repeated attempts to contact Iraqi officials in Prague were unsuccessful. Reaction among politicians to the Iranian decision ranged from passivity to disappointment. Petr Necas, head of the parliamentary Defense and Security Committee and a member of the opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS) said the country's Social Democratic government encouraged the response by appearing indecisive about the broadcasts. "The Czech government showed indecision and weakness toward Iran," he said. "It should have said firmly that it supported the broadcasts, but it showed it was afraid of Iran and that caused this reaction." The government approved the broadcasts in early October but conditioned its support on RFE/RL finding a suitable broadcast site. Many government members expressed safety concerns over a proposed site near a nursery school in Prague 6-Bubenec. The eventual decision to broadcast both services from RFE/RL headquarters near Wenceslas Square elicited more concerns. RFE/RL officials previously said they chose the Prague 6 site partially because of security issues connected with the Wenceslas Square headquarters. RFE/RL appreciated the Czech government's endorsement according to the broadcasters' president Tom Dine, but he added that support was not required to go ahead with the broadcasts. Government spokesman Libor Roucek said that despite Iran's action, the Czechs would not retaliate. "The Czech government will react neither politically nor economically to Iran's decision," he said. "It was emotional and we hope they will change their mind and not take any economic steps against the Czech Republic." He said trade between the two countries was approximately $43 million (1.3 billion Kc) in 1997 and on pace to be less this year. The Foreign Ministry said this amounted to approximately 0.1 percent of foreign trade. Even if Iran tried to cut economic ties, the two countries have economic agreements that cannot be canceled, just "cooled down," according to Ales Pospisil, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said major traders with Iran included the struggling engineering giant Skoda Plzen and the north Moravian machine company Prerovske strojirny. David Soukup, spokesman for Skoda Plzen, said Iran was one of its most reliable partners and any economic restrictions could mean a loss of 2 billion Kc for the company. Stephen Fairbanks, director of the RFE/RL Iran service, which is broadcast in Iran's native Farsi language, said he was disappointed by Iran's decision. "It is a shame they are reacting by threats against the Czech Republic," he said. "This is not a policy of the Czech Republic." Fairbanks echoed comments by Pospisil that many other independent news organizations broadcast to Iran, including the BBC and Voice of America, without being jammed, disrupted or subject to protests. The United States had no direct response to Iran's decision, but a U.S. State Department official disputed a claim made by the Iranian ambassador about the purpose of the broadcasts. "Contrary to the contentions of the Iranian government," the official said, "funding for RFE/RL's Farsi-language service to Iran is not part of some '$20 million secret budget designed to topple the government of Iran.'" RFE/RL president Dine said the Iranian government had obviously not listened to the content or tone of the Iran service. He said RFE/RL broadcasts are balanced and even included a substantial story on the Iranian government's criticisms of the service. The only instance he could recall similar to the current situation was the hostility of communist governments toward RFE/RL during the Cold War. Dine said the Czech Republic wanted to cooperate with the United States and that cooperation was welcomed.
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