UK MINISTER IN TEHRAN TO SIGN PACT ON DRUGS

Mo Mowlam, the first UK cabinet minister to visit Iran since the 1979
Islamic revolution, is to sign an agreement tomorrow on co-operation in
fighting drug trafficking and addiction.

Ms Mowlam is in charge of the UK government's anti-drugs policy, but
officials hope her visit and a meeting with President Mohammad Khatami will
put UK-Iran relations on to a better footing after a recent downturn.

Iran's foreign ministry suddenly pulled out of a London conference on
investing in Iran this month, while UK businessmen have also had visa
problems. The reason appears to stem from Tehran's annoyance that Robin
Cook, UK foreign secretary, twice postponed visits to Iran last year that
coincided with developments in the trial of 13 Iranian Jews accused of
spying for Israel.

Ms Mowlam raised the question of human rights in talks with senior
officials yesterday, as did Italy's visiting prime minister, Giuliano
Amato, on Saturday. Mr Amato said Iran faced a choice of reform and
development or isolation.

Such criticism, although muted, comes at a specially sensitive time ahead
of an annual United Nations resolution on Iran's human rights performance
proposed by the European Union.

Yesterday Ms Mowlam praised Iran's "heroic" efforts in the war against
drugs and expressed her condolences to the families of 3,000 members of the
security forces killed over the past 20 years, most on the border with
Afghanistan.

Most of the heroin consumed in Europe passes through Iran from Afghanistan,
which accounts for 80 per cent of the world's opium, the source of heroin.

Britain has contributed Pounds 2.68m in aid for Iran's anti-drugs
programme, more than any other country. Some was spent on flak-jackets and
night-vision goggles.

Ms Mowlam announced a further Pounds 78,000 for a demand reduction
programme and will sign a memorandum of understanding on drugs co-operation
with Vice-President Mohammad Hashemi. Her host in Iran was to have been
General Mohammad Fallah, head of the Anti-Drugs Headquarters, but he
resigned last week. Officials cited health problems but Iranian sources
said his departure was linked to differences over policies.

Gen Fallah last year said Iran's anti-drugs campaign, with its emphasis on
stopping supply instead of treatment and prevention, had reached a dead
end. He also expressed his opposition to the death penalty.

But the judiciary chief wants a tougher line. Last month he said 800
prisoners convicted of drug-related crimes had been sentenced to death and
could not be pardoned.

Reflecting Iran's growing alarm at its problem, with an estimated 2m
addicts, the Tehran Times proposed that drug addicts who did not reform
should be drowned. For regional reports, www.ft.com/mideastafrica.