Major shift in US Diplomatic Approach to Iran
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSL1611455720080717?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States will announce in the next month that it plans to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years, a British newspaper said on Thursday.
In a front-page report, the Guardian said Washington would open a U.S. interests section in the Iranian capital, halfway towards opening an embassy.
The unsourced report by the newspaper's Washington correspondent said: "The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a U.S. interests section in Tehran, a halfway house to setting up a full embassy.
"The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country."
Senior U.S. diplomat William Burns said in testimony to Congress last week the United States was looking to opening up an interest section in Tehran but had not made a decision yet.
IMHO this comes from a single source of rationality in the Bush Administration: Robert Gates. I believe that the Secretary of Defense has lined up the JCS and others against a military strike in Iran and has completely de-fanged the deranged Cheney/neocon branch of the administration.
On edit: The "continuing flip flop" refers to the administration's decision yesterday to have the State Department's #3 official join the European/Iranian talks as an 'observer', the first time the administration has agreed to such direct face to face contacts and which resulted in a denunciation by the idiot Bolton.