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IRAN might consider US diplomatic office in Tehran

by rahul | July 13, 2008 at 04:27 pm | 218 views | 3 comments

According to Voice of America, Iran would be willing allow an US Diplomatic Office in Teheran despite any such request.

Ahmadinejad Willing to Consider US Diplomatic Office in Tehran

By VOA News
13 July 2008

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he is willing to consider a U.S. diplomatic office in Tehran. He made the comment Sunday in response to a question after a cabinet meeting. He said he welcomes the idea of expansion of ties between the peoples of Iran and the United States. The Iranian president said he has not received any official request for a U.S. diplomatic office.

American media reported in June that U.S. officials are debating whether the United States should open an interests section in Tehran. Diplomatic relations have been cut since 1980, following the November, 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian radicals.

The two countries remain at odds over the Iranian nuclear program and other issues. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East if Iranian nuclear facilities are attacked. U.S. Secretary of State Condolezza Rice has repeatedly offered to start a political dialogue with Iran if Tehran heeds U.N. Security Council calls to suspend its uranium enrichment effort, which U.S. officials believe is weapons-related.

Iran operates an interests section in Washington, technically part of the embassy of Pakistan. U.S. interests in Iran are handled by the Swiss embassy.

PS: Anonymous comments are not welcome as they promote bias and diminish Citizen Journalism. Just like anonymous sources, they impaired the right to information and distort notions on confidential sources.

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René

at 17:48 on July 13th, 2008

Oh, oh, are we supposed to cream our pants for this, Ahmadinejad? What? Give you another chance to seize US hostages? We'd be fools to buy into this.

brow1859

at 11:46 on July 14th, 2008

Rene, so you know... the Iranian Hostage crisis is extremely complex.

After WWII the British Empire was crumbling meaning Britain's source of oil, Iran, was no longer part of the British Empire. This meant the British lost their supply of oil (to run the British Navy, their economy, etc). Shortly after the war, Britain asked President Truman to order the CIA to overthrow the Iranian government in order to re-open up Iranian oil fields for British exploit. Truman refused, but once Dwight Eisenhower took office he allowed for this to happen.

In 1953, the CIA carried out a coup that installed the Shah (who would keep the oil flowing to the US and Britain). This coup was planned from the basement of the US Embassy in Iran.

The reason for the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979, was because Iranians were afraid that the US would plan another coup to take their fledgling democracy hostage (as it happened before). These details are not taught in any school curriculum that I was involved with. Rather, I was given the impression that the hostage crisis was borne out of irrational radical Islam, which is far from the case.

Prior to the 1953 coup, Iranians revered the United States, because the US had never sought control of Iran the way that European nations did.

However, due to the US lack of foresight and haste in crippling Iran in the 50's, today the US faces challenges to own up for its actions and face the consequences of creating chaos and instability for a nation of people.

We can only hope that the US' future actions will be less aggressive with more focus on long term peace.

1953 Iranian coup d'état Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, shakes hands with a US Air Force United States. general officer prior to his departure from the
According to New York Times corespondent Stephen Kinzer, until the outbreak of World War II, the United States had no active policy towards Iran.[6] During the Cold War following World War II, America became deeply involved in Iranian affairs.

From 1952-53, Iran's nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq began a period of rapid power consolidation, centered on Mossadeq’s nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, now British Petroleum. Established by the British in the early 20th century, Anglo-Iranian Oil Company shared profits (85% British-15% Iran), but the company withheld their financial records from the Iranian government. By 1951 Iranian support for nationalization of the AIOC was intense and the Iranian Parliament unanimously agreed to nationalize its holding of, what was at the time, the British Empire’s largest company.

The United States and Britain, through a now-admitted covert operation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) called Operation Ajax, conducted from the US Embassy in Tehran, helped organize a coup to overthrow Moussadeq. The operation failed and the Shah fled to Italy. After organizing protests against Mosaddeq, a second operation was successful and the Shah returned from his brief exile. Iran's fledgling attempts at democracy quickly descended into dictatorship, as the Shah dismantled the constitutional limitations on his office and began to rule as an absolute monarch.

During his reign, the Shah received significant American support, frequently making state visits to the White House and earning praise from numerous American Presidents. The Shah's close ties to Washington and his bold agenda of rapidly Westernizing Iran soon began to infuriate certain segments of the Iranian population, especially the hardline Islamic conservatives. Because of their eventual ascension to power during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Operation Ajax is considered as one of the worst CIA "blowbacks" ever.