Clinton Says Hostilities Won’t Derail Mideast Peace Push : Diplomacy: Christopher cuts short Asian trip to confer with President. White House official blames fighting on Iran.

President Clinton pledged Tuesday that he will not let new fighting in the Middle East foil his push for a breakthrough in peace negotiations, and a White House official flatly labeled Iran an “enemy of the peace process” for instigating the hostilities.

Clinton acknowledged his concern that three days of bloody fighting in northern Israel and southern Lebanon threaten to disrupt talks just when U.S. officials have begun to see hope for real gains. His comments came on a day when Secretary of State Warren Christopher cut short an overseas trip to return to Washington to focus on the Mideast initiative.

The fighting poses the greatest threat so far to this Administration’s efforts to bring about a settlement in the Mideast talks, which U.S. officials have been trying to revive since May.

It also will severely test the abilities of U.S. diplomatic officials, whose last major foray onto the world stage ended nearly three months ago when European leaders rebuffed the Administration in its efforts to end the fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Although many experts and foreign leaders agreed with the eventual outcome, U.S. officials were criticized for talking tough in public but taking a more conciliatory line in private talks in European capitals.

By asserting its leadership in the Middle East now, the Administration has a fresh opportunity to demonstrate its abilities--or shortcomings--in world diplomacy.

Although Clinton said Tuesday that he is “obviously concerned” by the escalating hostilities, he said that he believes the parties should not allow any group--notably including the Iranian-supported Hezbollah--to thwart the talks.

“I don’t think we should allow Hezbollah and all these terrorist groups that don’t want anything good to happen in the Middle East to derail the peace process by what they do,” he told reporters at the White House. But Clinton said he does not believe there is a serious threat to the peace effort.

As they criticized Iran, Clinton and other U.S. officials stepped up their praise of Syria, which controls parts of southern Lebanon where the terrorists have bases and where six Syrian soldiers have been killed. Clinton said that the Syrians have shown “commendable restraint” in the region as tensions have heightened.

In her daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers declared that Iran and Hezbollah “are responsible” for fighting that has killed dozens and left many homeless.

“They instigated this. Hezbollah has the backing of the Iranian government. And they are enemies of the peace process,” she said.

A State Department official said that Christopher, who was to conclude his trip with stops in the Middle East, thought he needed to return to Washington to spend “more concentrated time” on the problem. Christopher still intends to keep previously scheduled appointments in the region, the official said.

In congressional testimony Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State Edward Djerejian said Christopher’s return “reflects the gravity with which the Administration views the outbreak of hostilities.”

Asked if Hezbollah had set off the fighting, Djerejian said: “It is not the first time. And it is no secret: Hezbollah has very vocally stated its opposition to the Arab-Israeli peace process and has translated that policy in violence.”

Djerejian said that the death of the Syrian soldiers “underscores the risk of escalation and the need for all parties” to exercise restraint. Djerejian, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria, said that the United States is urging the Syrians and Lebanese to do everything they can to rein in Hezbollah.

State Department officials said that Christopher made the decision to return to the United States early Tuesday morning after concluding that the escalating crisis required his full attention. They said that he talked to Clinton by telephone before ordering the change in his schedule.

A senior U.S. official said that Christopher’s plans to travel to the Middle East this coming week include visits to Egypt, Israel, Syria and Jordan--a round of shuttle diplomacy designed initially to help revive momentum in the Mideast peace talks.

Officials said that Christopher talked by telephone Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and spoke twice with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh.

The officials said that he “urged maximum restraint by all parties” and asked Shareh to “work on ways to de-escalate the violence.” A State Department official said that Rabin personally asked Christopher not to postpone his planned trip to the Middle East, despite the increasing violence in the region.

Christopher was expected to arrive in Washington early this morning, in time to put in a full day’s work. Aides said that the secretary probably will leave for the Middle East on Friday or Saturday.

He is expected to continue his telephone conversations with Rabin, Shareh and other leaders from his plane.

Planned discussions with Australia on U.S.-Australian political relations, which had been scheduled for Thursday and Friday, were postponed until autumn.

Christopher has been strongly deploring the mounting violence in the Middle East during public statements over the past several days. On Monday, he specifically pointed to Hezbollah as a major cause of the current violence.