Tehran Outpost Looks More Likely Before Bush Leaves

Though Obama team hasn't been consulted, move could insulate Dem from criticism

By Michael Roston, Newser User

Posted Nov 7, 2008 5:13 PM CST

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Tehran Outpost Looks More Likely Before Bush Leaves — An Iranian soldier stands next to an anti-Bush poster during a demonstration in front of the former US Embassy in Tehran, Nov. 4, 2007. The US may install an 'interests section' in Tehran. (AP Photo)

The Bush administration is moving ever closer to establishing a long-rumored diplomatic office in Iran, Newsweek reports, with a decision possible by Thanksgiving on putting an “interests section” inside another embassy in Tehran, likely the Swiss. The move might signal a victory for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and company in their final skirmish with Dick Cheney's hardliners.

While Iran has a small delegation in Washington, the US hasn't been back to Tehran since radicals took embassy staff hostage in 1979. Liberal foreign policy thinkers say the proposal is the only way to advance diplomacy on Iran's nuclear program; conservatives believe that if talks break down, US attempts at diplomacy will help make the case for military action against the regime.
(More Iran stories.)

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