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| Iran |
| Iran in secret talks with America post-Saddam |
| 2003-05-13 |
| So secret that it's in the British press. President Mohammed Khatami of Iran arrived for a ground-breaking visit to Lebanon yesterday amid strong indications that the clerical regime was ready to improve relations with Washington following the swift removal of Saddam Hussein. "Please don't attack us!" It is the first visit to Lebanon by a serving Iranian head of state since the revolution in 1979 which installed the fiercely anti-American Ayatollah Khomeini. Mr Khatami's arrival coincided with confirmation that Iran and America have been holding secret talks in Geneva. Iran — declared by President George W Bush to be part of the "axis of evil" — is encircled by pro-American governments after the fall of the Afghan and Iraqi regimes. Diplomats expect the president to offer some concessions to America by cutting military aid to the Lebanese Shia Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas, who operate along the border with Israel. They'll find a way to keep the money flowing. Hizbollah was set up by Iran in 1982 to radicalise the Lebanese Shi'ites and fight Israel and America. They drove Israeli forces out of their remaining foothold in Lebanon in 2000, and are And we haven't forgotten. Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, said on Sunday that Washington was in contact with Iran over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iraq. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 If you want improved relations, stop trying to build nukes. |
| Posted by: someone 2003-05-13 01:47:22 |