US ‘To Open Iran Base In Weeks’
(BBC)
The UK’s Guardian newspaper reports the US plans to open an interests section in Tehran, its first diplomatic presence in the country for 30 years.
The state department said its policy towards Iran was unchanged, but that it wanted to reach out to Iranians.
It comes as the US announced that a top diplomat would attend talks in Geneva with the Iranians on Saturday.
The talks will be the first time in 30 years that such a high-ranking US diplomat - the third-most senior in the US - has met Iranian officials.
Change of tone
US officials said recently that the idea of a diplomatic presence in Iran was being discussed, but that it was not being actively worked on.
The unsourced Guardian report said that the interests section - a step towards setting up an embassy - would be similar to the one in Cuba.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, centre, visits the Natanz uranium enrichment facility on 8 April 2008
Signs of hope in Iran-US ties
When asked for a comment, the state department sent out a note with past comments made by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
She said that while US policy towards Iran was known and unchanged, the Iranian people deserved better.
Ms Rice added that the US was determined to find ways to reach out to the Iranian people and wanted more Iranians to visit the US.
While Washington still insists Iran must suspend uranium enrichment - a process the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons - there seems to be a significant change in US tone, says the BBC’s Kim Ghattas in Washington.
Tehran has an interests section in Washington, where it processes visa applications and which gives it a presence on the ground in the US.
But the US has not had a diplomatic presence in Iran since the hostage crisis in 1979, and Iranians have to go to Dubai to get US visas.
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It sounds typically like the Guardian, talking out of its ass.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:30 amTapis rouge requested !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 17th, 2008 at 2:55 amWell theres a hostage situation waiting to happen, or a car bomb target.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:24 amJust think of that first time your dad took you out to shoot his .38 snub nose or that old .30-06. You pull up to his friends farm/ranch, he gets the cases out of the trunk and sets him on that crappy folding table kept out in the field then gives you the talk - the one where he tells you to only point it at what you intend to shoot and only put your finger on the trigger when it’s time to pull it - then he slowly walks out to set-up the targets on that old, fell log.
See, this is like that. This is like dad walking out there to set up the cans of cream corn and the water mellon (just to give you a good show) then that tiny little paddle target just to see how good you are.
Just remember, you can’t knock down before you’ve set ‘em up!
July 17th, 2008 at 4:40 amMore than likely a spy center.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:41 amI gotta agree with Ji. Our hard intel from inside iran is virtually nada. And it’s not like we use embassies ’strictly for’ issuing visas.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:49 amOr a way to try to put the brakes on Israel, by putting Americans potential in harm’s way should Israel launch an attack?
July 17th, 2008 at 5:06 amStupid and ridiculous.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:12 amAnything from the BBC* is worth nothing.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:12 amsame with the Guardian newspaper, which has been a money losing
business for years. You might be interested to know that it is
kept alive by a parent corporation that also own “Auto Trader”,
an immensely profitable fat mag that people over there use to buy
and sell used cars. Without Auto Trader, the Guardian would be bust.
Anytime you see anything from the BBC* , just chuck it in the bin.
Waste of time. Stupid Dhimis doing what stupid Dhimis do kowtowing to people they don’t understand, but who understand them very well.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:40 am