ne of Iran's leading newspapers has warned British Airways that it is at "great risk" after lifting a nine-year ban on author Salman Rushdie from flying on its planes. On Wednesday, the airline announced that after receiving assurances from the British Foreign Office, it was now willing to accomodate the embattled writer. A spokesperson for the company said that BA had banned Mr. Rushdie out of its concern for the security of passengers and employees. British Airway's announcement is seen as part of a wider thaw between the reformist government of Iranian President Mohammed Khatami and the west.

    But Thursday's edition of the Tehran Times warned, "Rushdie is the one who trampled the Islamic values and insulted the feelings of over one billion muslims after writing blasphemous materials against Islam." The paper quoted anonymous "experts on Irano-British (sic) affairs) who criticized British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and claimed "such an announcement confirms that the British Airways has no respect for the feelings of one billion Muslims..."    Rushdie has been living under a "fatwa" or religious death sentence since 1989, when his novel "The Satanic Verses" was condemned as blasphemous by the late Ayatollah Khomeini. In September of this year, however, while on a visit to the US General Assembly, Iranian President Khatami told a select group of news reporters that his government had "forgotten" the death sentence. That development came after months of behind-the-scenes negotiations involving Iran, Britain and the United States in hopes or gradually normalizing relations. Iran and Britain have now established diplomatic ties.

    Even so, Mr. Khatami -- considered a political moderate and reformer -- must still face many clerical hardliners both in and out of the Iranian governmental apparatus.

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