Staff writer
Japan will extend an invitation to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to make an official visit to Tokyo as early as the second half of next year, amid growing signs of an improvement in the international situation surrounding the Persian Gulf nation, government sources said Friday.
The sources also said that Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura will visit Tehran at the earliest possible date next year -- probably sometime next summer -- to prepare for Khatami's Japan visit. If Khatami comes to Tokyo, he will be the highest-level Iranian leader to have done so since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.