Friday, July 18, 2008

U.S. to establish Tehran presence

From Reuters UK, 17/7/08:

LONDON (Reuters) ...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: "...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 U.S. diplomats stationed in the country."

...On Sunday, President Amhmoud Ahmadinejad suggested Iran would consider any proposal by the United States for a U.S. interests section in the Islamic Republic...The United States cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran during the 1979-1981 hostage crisis, in which a group of militant Iranian students held 52 U.S. diplomats hostage at the American embassy for 444 days.

Iran maintains an interests section at the embassy of Pakistan in Washington. Mottaki said it serves the large Iranian community in the United States.

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