U.S. Still Interested in Tehran Mission
Media Line News Agency
October 10, 2008
U.S. Secretary of State of Condoleezza told reporters that the outgoing Bush administration was still interested in establishing a diplomatic outpost in Tehran after an absence of 30 years. She made the statement during a meeting with the press during the secretary of state´s trip to India and Kazakhstan.
U.S. and Iran broke off diplomatic relations after 52 U.S. diplomats were held captive for 444 days when Iranian radicals took over the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979 in the wake of the student-led revolution that overthrew the shah of Iran, who was a close friend of Washington, and installed an Islamic republic.
Officials in the administration said the decision would be left for the next president in order to reduce the impact of the issue on the presidential campaigns, the Tehran Times reported.
The newspaper also quoted the speaker of the Iranian parliament, 'Ali Larijani, as saying that the offer was not a sincere one and if the U.S. were interested in closer ties with Iran, it would take up Iran´s suggestion for direct flights between the two countries.
Currently the U.S. has an interest office within the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.
Meanwhile, the two countries are still locked in a diplomatic tug-of-war over Iran´s nuclear program. Tehran claims it is for peaceful purposes such as power production, while Washington argues the program is intended for the production of weapons grade uranium, which is essential in the construction of nuclear weapons.
U.S. and Iran broke off diplomatic relations after 52 U.S. diplomats were held captive for 444 days when Iranian radicals took over the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979 in the wake of the student-led revolution that overthrew the shah of Iran, who was a close friend of Washington, and installed an Islamic republic.
Officials in the administration said the decision would be left for the next president in order to reduce the impact of the issue on the presidential campaigns, the Tehran Times reported.
The newspaper also quoted the speaker of the Iranian parliament, 'Ali Larijani, as saying that the offer was not a sincere one and if the U.S. were interested in closer ties with Iran, it would take up Iran´s suggestion for direct flights between the two countries.
Currently the U.S. has an interest office within the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.
Meanwhile, the two countries are still locked in a diplomatic tug-of-war over Iran´s nuclear program. Tehran claims it is for peaceful purposes such as power production, while Washington argues the program is intended for the production of weapons grade uranium, which is essential in the construction of nuclear weapons.
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