U.S. officials won't hold direct talks with Iran or Syria at a Baghdad conference next month.
Direct talks would happen only if those countries made changes to their own policies.
Iran would have to halt its uranium enrichment work and Syria would have to stop supporting groups Washington considers terrorist organizations.
Direct talks would happen only if those countries made changes to their own policies.
Iran would have to halt its uranium enrichment work and Syria would have to stop supporting groups Washington considers terrorist organizations.
The Guardian comments :
The Bush administration gave up one of the central tenets of its Middle East strategy yesterday, reversing its much criticised effort to isolate Iran and Syria by inviting both states to negotiations on stabilising Iraq.
The proposed meeting was widely seen as an attempt to neutralise criticism of George Bush's strategy on the war - most notably his refusal to open talks with Tehran and Damascus.
The prospect of US and Iranian diplomats sharing a negotiating table in Baghdad represents an apparent U-turn on Mr Bush's strategy towards the Middle East
CFR Fellow Steven A. Cook tells CFR.org's Bernard Gwertzman the about-face by the Bush administration stems from the feeling they "would be negotiating with the Iranians from a position of strength now." The prospect of US and Iranian diplomats sharing a negotiating table in Baghdad represents an apparent U-turn on Mr Bush's strategy towards the Middle East
But he warns that this may not be the case. "It is true they’ve ratcheted up the pressure on the Iranians. But at the same time, the Iranians hold many of the cards, and even with this pressure they have the means to make the U.S. military’s life much more difficult in Iraq."