Revealed: the letter Obama team hope will heal Iran rift [View All]

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Source: Guardian UK

Revealed: the letter Obama team hope will heal Iran rift
Symbolic gesture gives assurances that US does not want to topple Islamic regime

Robert Tait and Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 January 2009 00.05 GMT
Article history


Obama administration officials have drafted a letter to Iran from the president aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks, the Guardian has learned.

The US state department has been working on drafts of the letter since Obama was elected on 4 November. It would be in reply to a lengthy letter of congratulations sent by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on 6 November.

Diplomats say Obama's letter would be a symbolic gesture to mark a change in tone from the hostile one adopted by the Bush administration, which portrayed Iran as part of an "axis of evil".

It would be intended to allay the suspicions of Iran's leaders and pave the way for Obama to engage them directly, a break with past policy.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/28/barack-obama-letter-to-iran