YET MORE IRAN BLOGGING….OK, I get it. There just aren’t very many people who are interested in the fact that George Bush is planning to open an interests section in Tehran. But just in case you’re one of the enlightened few, the New York Times confirmed the Guardian’s original account today and added a few more tidbits:
The idea would be to open a so-called interests section, rather than a fully staffed embassy, with American diplomats who could issue visas to Iranians seeking to visit the United States….One senior European official said that Mr. Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, had told a number of his counterparts in Tokyo in recent weeks that Ms. Rice was committed to moving forward on the decision to put American diplomats in Tehran, but that the decision still faced opposition from conservatives opposed to any kind of closer ties with Iran.
“My feeling is that the decision was more or less taken and the administration’s problem was when and how to announce it,” the official said. “They want to do it, but for domestic political reasons they don’t know how and when, and maybe even if, they can do it.”
Another senior official from another European country who deals directly with Iran went further, saying Ms. Rice had indicated in recent private discussions that the decision was already final, and that it was only a matter of time before it was announced.
On a related note, Laura Rozen reports that national security advisor Steven Hadley and Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki both just happen to be in Turkey right now. Probably just a coincidence, but you never know.
Anyway, that’s the latest. You may now return to whatever you were doing before you read this.
UPDATE: Oddly enough, the last paragraph I excerpted from the Times story is no longer there this morning. I have no idea if this means anything substantive.
