Peres' Uzbekistan Visit Is Denounced by Iran

NICOSIA -- Iran on Monday denounced Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' visit to Uzbekistan as a symbol of an "unholy alliance" between veteran communist leaders and Israel against Central Asian Moslems. Tehran Radio said in a commentary that Central Asian nations had been trying to regain their Islamic identity since their independence after the fall of Soviet communist rule in 1991. "This hurts some veteran communist politicians in Central Asia to the same degree" as Peres, it said. "Thus an unholy alliance" is made against enemies of traditional Moslem nations -- "nations whose consciousness about their religious roots is in itself a threat against Israeli and pseudo-communist fundamentalism," it continued. Peres' three-day visit to Central Asia marks the first by a high-ranking Israeli official since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Islamic Iran has established generally friendly relations with Moslem ex-Soviet republics that are ruled by former communist leaders to promote trade and cultural links. Tehran's ties are especially good with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan -- the latter being the second stop on Peres' tour. Arriving Sunday in Tashkent, Peres said, "Like Uzbekistan, Israel is fighting fundamentalism, poverty and war." Tehran Radio condemned the statement, saying these phenomena were spread, rather than fought against, by the Jewish state.