Thaw in US-Iran relations
Published: Thursday, 17 July 2008, 9:43PM
Top American diplomats are preparing to deal directly with Iran for the first time in 30 years.
The US State Department's third-ranking official, William Burns, is due to attend a meeting on Saturday in Switzerland with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
His presence marks the first time such an important diplomat has attended such talks and signals a break with past Bush administration policy.
The meeting was set up by the P5-plus-1 group - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany - which has offered Iran incentives to halt its nuclear weapons programme.
The US had previously refused to deal directly with the Iranians until they suspended their uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.
Bush administration officials insist the US presence at the talks does not signal a shift in policy against direct negotiations with Iran.
But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hinted on Tuesday that his country would hold direct talks with US in the near future and a request for installing a US diplomatic base in Iran could be reviewed.
The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since the hostage crisis at the US Embassy in Tehran after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
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