Bush Administration Sending Public Signals to Iran It Might Be

Willing to Talk on New Terms

At Dinner with Baker, Iran's UN Ambassador Suggests United States Is Still

'Trying to Buy Iran's Cooperation on Iraq at a Very Cheap Price'

NEW YORK, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- A senior U.S. official tells
Newsweek that some inside the administration believe it may be too
late to stop Tehran from continuing its nuclear program. Should
diplomacy fail, Washington might have to accept Iran as a "virtual
nuclear-weapons state" if President Bush gets help on Iraq and other
issues, this official says. That means Tehran might be permitted to
develop the technology for making nuclear fuel -- and potentially a
bomb -- as long as it holds to its pledge to limit its program to
peaceful purposes. But this is still seen as a remote fallback
position. In Newsweek's November 27 issue (on newsstands Monday,
November 20), Senior Editor Michael Hirsh and National Security
Correspondent John Barry report on new, public signals that Washington
is edging closer to Tehran's terms for talks.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061119/NYSU004 )

Tehran is interested only in a broader deal that links the U.S. desire
for help in Iraq with Iran's desire to be allowed to enrich uranium,
among other issues, report Hirsh and Barry. Over dinner with James
Baker, longtime Bush family confidant and Iraq Study Group co-chair,
Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the U.N., politely aired past
grievances, complaining that U.S. administrations dating back to
George H.W. Bush -- when Baker was secretary of State -- had failed to
take Iran seriously. Zarif said the Americans never showed
appreciation for Tehran's help freeing U.S. hostages in Lebanon in the
early '90s -- and, more recently, for countering the Taliban in
Afghanistan, according to two participants at the meeting. Zarif's
not-so-subtle message: Iran isn't giving anything for free anymore.
Baker, known for his deft bargaining skills, said that the only issue
he had come to talk about was Iraq. Baker argued that a failed state
next door would hurt Iran more than America -- which, after all, can
always just leave the region. Despite the friendly ambience, Zarif
suspected in the end that Baker was "trying to buy Iran's cooperation
on Iraq at a very cheap price."

But the question of whether Tehran can stop the sectarian killing --
even if Washington does cut a deal -- remains, Hirsh and Barry report.
On Capitol Hill, CIA Director Michael Hayden said an "Iranian hand is
stoking the violence" in Iraq. But the private view of U.S.
intelligence agencies is that Tehran is "torn" over how much it wants
to stir up trouble, says an official familiar with classified
intelligence briefings on Iran. The Iranians, he says, "don't want
complete chaos."

(Read entire article at http://www.Newsweek.com)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15788877/site/newsweek/ SOURCE Newsweek

-0- 11/19/2006