Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/17/opinion/diplomatic/main1418846.shtml Iran: To Talk or Not to Talk March 17, 2006 http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2006/02/15/image1321168g.jpg \* MERGEFORMATINETU.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the United States will talk with Iran, but only about Iraq. (AFP Photo) Quote http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/common/images/transp.gif \* MERGEFORMATINET This isn't a negotiation of some kind. We have found it useful to exchange information — and if we do talk, it will be about Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (CBS) CBS News reporter Charles Wolfson is a former Tel Aviv bureau chief for CBS News, who now covers the State Department. The Bush administration's policy towards Iran during the past year has been aimed at isolating that country from the international community. The policy is driven by what Washington sees as Tehran's effort to obtain a nuclear weapons capability. Senior administration strategists have steadily built a diplomatic consensus that has brought the Iranian government before the United Nations Security Council. We have made the calculation, particularly since the Ahmadinejad government came into being a couple of months ago, that it is better to try to isolate the Iranian government, said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns. And so we choose that course — one of trying to isolate, to shine a spotlight on the Iranians, and to ask the Iranians to respond to the clear will of all these countries around the world that spoke with one voice a month ago. Burns was referring to the recent vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency, at which Russia, China, India and others voted to report Iran to the Security Council. But there seems to be an exception to this policy of isolation. When an Iranian official, Ali Larijani, said this week that Iran was prepared to have direct talks with a U.S. diplomat about Iraq, American officials said, sure, no problem, that’s been OK with us for months and months — which is true. Last year, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, was given authority by President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to meet with Iranian officials to discuss what Washington sees as Iran’s interference in Iraq. The United States and Iran have not had official diplomatic relations since the hostage crisis in 1979. Unofficially, there has been contact between the two governments in multilateral formats and, occasionally, through direct meetings between U.S. and Iranian officials. Then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ryan Crocker held talks with Iranian officials from mid-2002 through May or June of 2003, according to a State Department official. Those talks came to an end because we saw their (destabilizing) activities in Iraq. If talks do take place now, they would be a resumption of the type of dialogue we've engaged in, intermittently, since 9/11,” says a State Department official. Rice, speaking during her trip to Australia, told reporters, we understand … these talks might be useful, but added that this isn't a negotiation of some kind. We have found it useful to exchange information — and if we do talk, it will be about Iraq. Translation: Talking with Iran might be useful for the United States' goals in Iraq, because Iran is seen as a neighbor that's meddling in a heavy-handed way there — but the talks would not be a way for Iran to extricate itself from the international pressure it is clearly beginning to feel at the Security Council. According to President Bush and other senior U.S. officials, one thing Washington would like Iran to stop doing is allowing the experts and the know-how to make IEDs — improvised explosive devices — into Iraq. There are IEDs in Iraq with a 'Made in Iran' sign that are killing Americans, said a senior State Department official. Iran is also contributing to Iraqi-armed militias, something that the U.S. sees as destabilizing to progress in Iraq. What we're seeing here is American diplomats walking a diplomatic tightrope. On the one hand, they have successfully united most of the international community, to the point of getting Iran’s nuclear program before the Security Council. On the other hand, the United States is on the cusp of starting discussions with the same regime in Tehran, asking the Iranians' help in lowering the temperature in Iraq. Would such talks lead to further engagement? The instructions to Ambassador Khalilzad, formerly the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, are clear, officials say — they are limited to talking about Iran’s activities inside Iraq. But there's at least some skepticism about the likelihood that Khalilzad will stick to his marching orders. As one official put it, It's a lot like (NBA star) Kobe Bryant. You can never hope to shut down Zal. You can only hope to contain him. Charles M. Wolfson ©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.