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Clinton hopes for more openness in Iran

LOS ANGELES: President Bill Clinton said on Saturday he hoped for more openness and freedom in Iran after a sweeping parliamentary election victory by reformists last month.

"I hope and pray that what we have seen in three elections now there (in Iran) means that there is a movement toward openness and freedom there too," Clinton told a largely Iranian-American audience at a Los Angeles fund-raiser.

"I regret that so many of you had to leave your native land (Iran), one of the most wonderful places in all of human history, one of the most important places culturally in all of human history," Clinton said.

He added that he hoped that "someday all of you may be able to go home to visit and have two homes, complete and open and free."

Reformist allies of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami swept to a stunning victory over entrenched conservatives in Feb. 18 parliamentary elections.

Khatami has cautioned that Iran will continue to go its own way and would build on its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Many Iranians fled to the United States and other countries as that revolution gathered strength.

The $2,500-per-person fund-raiser was expected to raise $200,000 for the Democratic National Committee. It was part of a two-day California swing for Clinton that was expected to raise a total of $1.6 million for the Democratic Party.-Reuters