The 10-day, five-nation tour of the Middle East conducted by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze beginning February 17, 1989, scored several firsts for the USSR. It was the first time in 15 years that a Soviet foreign minister had visited the region. For the first time, a Soviet foreign minister traveled to Jordan. Shevardnadze was the first Soviet foreign minister in 70 years to go to Iran. There he was accorded an unprecedented audience with Aytollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Equally important, for the first time, the Soviet Union seemed to be accepted by Arabs and Israelis alike as an "honest broker." Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens hurried to Cairo for a meeting with his Soviet counterpart on ways to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In summing up the visit, Shevardnadze underscored its achievements. In an interview with Pravda on March 2, 1989, he listed several "questions" concerning Soviet relations with regional countries that were "successfully resolved." These include:
The complete normalization of relations with Egypt. A
turnaround and changes in the climate and nature of ties
with neighboring Iran. The deepening of contacts with
countries with which we have a tradition of cooperation
--Syria and Iraq. A first visit to Jordan. New moves in the
dialogue with Israel--a country with which we have no
diplomatic relations but with which we must talk for the
sake of peace and security in the Near East. Finally, our
support for the position of the PLO leaders, who have taken
outstanding and original steps for the sake of the same
lofty aim.
However, within days of the visit, Arens leveled strong criticism at Shevardnadze. He was particularly concerned over the reference the Soviet official made to "sanctions" against Israel during a speech to Egypt's People's Assembly. According to Arens, this smacked of Brezhnev, if not Bulganin, rather than Mikhail Gorbachev's "new thinking." Further, the Israeli official questioned Shevardnadze's assertion that the USSR wants to renew relations with Israel, but only under circumstances that would not anger the Arab world. "If this is the Soviet stance," said Arens, "and if they do not wish to resume relations with us, it is very difficult to see how they can have a constructive role in the peace process in the region."
Moreover, despite the red-carpet treatment accorded Shevardnadze in Tehran, the ayatollah was back to his old habits barely a month later. In a message to Iran's war refugees in late March, Khomeini cautioned his followers that both East and West "have decided to destroy Islam in Iran--the center of pure Muhammadan Islam--by any means available and if possible with military power."
What, then, were Moscow's motives for dispatching its foreign minister to the area at this time, and what is the visit's true import? Finally, what can be learned from it about the "new thinking" in Soviet foreign policy in
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