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Article: Iran and the United States: the nuclear issue.(Cordesman: Iran and the United States)
- Article from:
- Middle East Policy
- Article date:
- March 22, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Middle East Policy Council. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It is easy to call for a dialogue between the United States and Iran. Few, other than ideological hardliners on both sides, are likely to oppose the need to talk at some level. The last few years of needless war scares have also shown how important a mix of informal diplomacy and formal policy-level statements can be. One has to wonder what would have happened if the United States and Iran had not continued to communicate through second-track diplomacy by various unofficial groups, informal contacts between officials on both sides, and the efforts of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and various senior U.S. commanders to make it clear ...