US shunned Iran talk offer

nuclear iran--Washington Post publishes report filed to State Department after Iraq invasion showing that Washington rejected offer by Tehran to hold talks; US estimated regime was nearing collapse
Ynet
Iran promised the United States to fully collaborate with the United Nations nuclear watchdog on its nuclear program, to recognize Israel and suspend its support for Palestinian terror groups in the wake of Washington's invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Washington Post said Sunday.
The newspaper said the Iranian offer was detailed in a report submitted to the State Department, but Bush administration officials rebuked it thinking the Iranian regime was on the verge of collapse.

According to the newspaper, the Iranian offer for talks was presented to Washington via the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.

"At the time, the Iranians were not spinning centrifuges, they were not enriching uranium," Flynt Leverett, who was a senior director on the National Security Council staff then and saw the Iranian proposal, told the Washington Post. Leverett told the paper the proposal was "a serious effort, a respectable effort to lay out a comprehensive agenda for US-Iranian rapprochement."

Reports of Iran initiating talks with Washington surfaced in 2003, but a copy of the proposal was released only recently.

06.18.06

nuclear iran-- a Middle East expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he obtained it from Iranian sources, told the paper he received a copy of the document from Iranian sources. The Washington Post said it confirmed the authenticity of the copy with Iranian and former US officials.
The report said Iran took the move of initiating talks with Washington to avert sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.
The Iranian also offered to assist the US in its battle against Sunni insurgents in Iraq and endorse a Saudi proposal for peace with Israel.
The Bush administration has recently agreed to allow Iran access to civil nuclear technology in return for allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor its nuclear activitie
source:http://www.ynetnews.com
posted by ali ghannadi-irannuk