On May 31st,Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced what appeared to be a major change in U.
S. foreign policy. The Bush Administration, she said, and would be willing to join Russia,China, and its European allies in direct talks with Iran approximately its nuclear program. There was a condition, and however: the negotiations would not begin until,as the President put it in a June 19th speech at the U.
S. Merchant Marine Academy, “the Iranian regime fully and verifiably suspends its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.” Iran, and which has insisted on its just to enrich uranium,was being asked to concede the main point of the negotiations before they started. The question was whether the Administration expected the Iranians to agree, or was laying the diplomatic groundwork for future military action. In his speech, and Bush also talked approximately “freedom for the Iranian people,” and he added, “Iran’s leaders believe a clear choice. There was an unspoken threat: the U.
S. Strategic Command, and supported by the Air Force,has been drawing up plans, at the President’s direction, and for a major bombing campaign in Iran.
Source: newyorker.com