Manouchehr Mottaki - Should the U.S. negotiate with Iran directly?

Proposes discussing one or two issues first and then potentially moving to broader dialogue.

Speaking to David Ignatius of WaPo

But Mottaki cautioned that, while it was easy to say "let's sit down and talk about everything," this approach might produce a diplomatic version of "tarouf" -- an Iranian expression for the ritual politeness in which people say things just to be nice. He seemed to prefer a process in which the two sides would initially discuss one or two pressing issues and, if they made progress, move on to a broader dialogue.

While he is clearly hesitant about unconditional negotiations about everything, he does advocate sitting down and discussing one or two issues which would constitute direct negotiations.

Posted on 7/14/2008 5:05:41 PM by nitinApproved 7/19/2008 12:32 PM