"When President Khatami put out the peace feelers last year, he was reflecting public sentiment," says TIME U.N. correspondent William Dowell. "Most ordinary Iranians don't share the leadership's animosity toward the U.S." Still, the conservatives managed to force Khatami to be more cautious in his calls for renewed contact between the two nations. The wrestlers may be the first of a number of American delegations to visit Iran in the near future, but it'll be some time and even more burned flags before the U.S. reoccupies the embassy it left behind in 1979.
Wrestlemania Among the Mullahs
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As American wrestlers win friends in the streets of Tehran, their presence appears to be infuriating
Iran's conservatives. When the Stars and Stripes drew
enthusiastic cheers at the opening ceremony of an international wrestling
tourney, a conservative cleric urged parliament to reject the presence of
the flag "which we used to trample underfoot only last year," and led
legislators in the ritual chant of "Death to America."