ISTANBUL, Turkey – Iran's foreign minister said yesterday that his country was open to discussing the establishment by the Bush administration of the first U.S. diplomatic presence in Tehran since relations were severed nearly three decades ago.
The minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, welcomed as a “positive step” the administration's decision to send a senior U.S. official to participate in international talks with Iran this weekend, and he said he expected the talks to make progress.
Speaking in Ankara, Turkey, where he was on a one-day official visit with his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan, and other senior government officials, Mottaki said there had been increased demand from Iranians and Americans for better bilateral social and business relations, which had been the basis for earlier proposals for direct flights between the countries.
“I think there can be a meeting both on the opening of a United States Interests Section in Iran and also on starting direct flights,” Mottaki said. “We proposed direct flights between the United States and Iran last year, given the intense demand from both American and Iranian people.”
Although there has been no official confirmation, European and U.S. officials have said the Bush administration was considering establishing a U.S. diplomatic presence in Iran for the first time since relations were ended during the 444-day occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, which started Nov. 4, 1979.
The proposal would be to establish an interests section, rather than a fully staffed embassy, although the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under diplomatic rules, have said that the idea has not been approved by the White House and that it could be delayed or blocked by opposition within the administration.
Speaking to reporters through a Turkish interpreter, Mottaki said that although he was open to talks on the issue, he was critical of the United States, saying that Iran had heard about the U.S. plan only from the news media, instead of through official channels.
Today, William J. Burns, the State Department's third-ranking official, was expected in Geneva to participate, along with European Union nations, in talks with Iran aimed at persuading it to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for economic and political incentives. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and Iran's nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, were to take part in the meeting.
The Iranian delegation has prepared its own proposals on political, economic and security issues, and was ready to discuss them in detail, Mottaki said. He described a more positive atmosphere that he said had been created after Solana's visit to Tehran in June to present a document of understanding among the six countries participating in the nuclear talks – the United States, Germany, Russia, France, Britain and China.
The latest steps come as the White House is adopting new tactics in dealing with Iran, as it tries to bring a peaceful resolution to the impasse over Iran's nuclear program. Tension has intensified since Tehran tested missiles last week.
