WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) -- The Bush administration's plans to give $3 million to Iranian pro-democracy groups is a bid to help spread freedom in that country and not, as Tehran says, a violation of accords between the two countries, the U.S. State Department said Monday.
The money, which has been appropriated by Congress, will be the first public funding by Washington of Iranian groups since the 1979 Islamic revolution that led to an end of diplomatic relations between the two countries. It is also the next step in the administration's agenda of spreading democracy and freedom throughout the globe, but more specifically in the Islamic world. That is a key goal of President Bush, as stated in his second inaugural address.
Ever since the start of the U.S.-led war on terror, which followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the Bush administration has spent millions of dollars to win over public opinion in the Muslim world where polls show anti-U.S. sentiment is high. U.S. spending on broadcast efforts into the Middle East, spearheaded by its Arabic language Al Hurra television and Radio Sawa, but also including Farsi language Radio Farda broadcasts into Iran, has already exceeded Cold War-era levels. More than half of U.S. aid to developing countries, which touched $19 billion in 2004 was to nations where more than 50 percent of the population was Muslim, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
The State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor announced on its Web site Friday the funding for "human rights and democratization initiatives in Iran."
"DRL seeks to provide grants to educational institutions, humanitarian groups, nongovernmental organizations, and individuals inside Iran to support the advancement of democracy and human rights," the Web site said. "Due to current sanctions on Iran, United States Government funds may not be used for activities involving the government of Iran."
The bureau said it expected to award between three and 12 grants ranging from between $250,000 and $1 million. The funds, the first given by the U.S. government to Iran since 1979, will be used to develop political parties, the media, human and labor rights and civil society.
Separately, however, the National Endowment for Democracy, a body created by Congress but that is autonomous, in 2003 gave $30,000 to Iran's Abdorrahaman Boroumand Foundation to develop, according to the NED's Web site: "an educational Iran human rights Web site that includes an electronic library in Farsi on human rights laws and instruments." The NED also gives $25,000 to the Iran Teachers' Association to print and distribute 500 hard copies of its quarterly journal, Mehregan, and maintain an electronic version, too.
Although Iran conducts regular elections, human rights groups and the international community have criticized the nation's laws under which the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, can overrule laws made by the elected parliament and approved by President Mohammed Khatami. Powerful Islamic bodies also decide who can and cannot contest election. Those practices have resulted in protests throughout Iran and subsequent government crackdowns.
"In 2004, the government's poor human rights record worsened, and it continued to commit numerous, serious abuses," the State Department said in its 2004 annual human rights report, which was released in March. "Summary executions, disappearances, extremist vigilantism, widespread use of torture and other degrading treatment remained problems."
The Bush administration's $3 million move was praised by Lorne Craner, president of the International Republican Institute, a group that receives government funding to spread political and economic freedom, good governance and human rights around the globe.
"I am pleased to hear it has happened," he told United Press International in an interview. "The United States has been spreading democracy for years in other countries, it's good we're now doing it in Iran."
The IRI will hope to get some of the money to work with Iranian groups, he said.
Iranian officials reacted angrily to the announcement, calling it a violation of the Algiers Accord between the two countries under which the United States agreed "not to intervene directly or indirectly politically or militarily in Iran's internal affairs."
In Washington, Boucher said the money was meant to spread democracy in the country and did not, therefore, violate the agreement.
"Supporting democracy and human rights around the world is something the United States does everywhere," he said. "It's not an attempt to decide somebody else's internal affair."
In Tehran, however, government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said Iran would take legal action against the United States, but did not elaborate.
"The American government has been allocating funds for interference in Iran's domestic affairs for years," he said. "Our country and the regime are stable enough not to be disturbed by such measures. However, such acts are against international norms and law. The foreign ministry will take necessary legal action."
The spread of global freedom has been a key agenda of the second Bush administration. It is a point the president has emphasized since his first day back on the job after his November 2004 re-election.
"It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world," he said in January during his second inaugural speech.
During Bush's state of the union speech in February, Iran came in for special mention.
"As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you," he said.
U.S. funding of pro-democracy groups in countries such as Georgia and Ukraine resulted in changes of governments in those countries following elections that were labeled flawed by the international community. Both nations now have pro-Western leaders.
