One of US president's senior advisors is secretly making efforts to establish line of communication with Iran
A Chicago lawyer is the key player behind the secret talks between the US and Iran. Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. A close friend of Michelle Obama, Valerie Jarrett is assisting the US government communicate behind the scenes with the representatives of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei... Jarret, who was born in the Iranian city of Shiraz, is a senior advisor to US President Barack Obama.
Last month, The New York Times reported that the US government is engaged in secret talks with Iran aimed at establishing a direct line of communication once the US presidential elections are over... The US has tried to keep the secret contacts under wraps since some of the countries involved in the public negotiations, such as Russia, were excluded from them.
...Israel was originally surprised to learn of the talks, but state officials now reveal that they were going on for several months. The talks, they claim, were initiated and led by Jarret, and took place in Bahrain.
The US State Department estimated the economic pressure on Iran will peek in February or March, immidiately after the president-elect takes office, rendering the talks over Iran's nuclear program – in case they materialize – with potentially positive results.
Of course, Jarrett's timing is -- as you would expect -- impeccable:
Iranians burn US flags to mark embassy seizure
Thousands of Iranians chanting "Death to America" burnt US flags on Friday to mark the 33rd anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran, just days before the American presidential election.
The demonstrators also chanted anti-British and anti-Israeli slogans, and burnt Israeli flags, in front of the site of the former embassy, dubbed the "den of spies" by the authorities who sponsor the annual commemoration, an AFP photographer reported.
This year's rally came just days before Tuesday's US presidential election in which Republican challenger Mitt Romney has made Iran's controversial nuclear programme a top foreign policy issue...
...After long denying the impact of the [sanctions], Iranian leaders are now beginning to acknowledge the extent of the damage and denouncing what they say is an "economic war" against the Islamic republic.
"Those who say that by compromising with the US, the economic situation will improve... (should know that) this is a big lie and deceit," Naqdi said... "We have declared a 10 kilo (22 pounds) in gold reward for researchers and historians, who have 10 years to prove that there is a more criminal country than America in the world... the US is the most hated among all nations."
And, heaven knows, Jarrett is eminently qualified to act as a global negotiator, what with her vast foreign policy experience. I'll ask again: what could possibly go wrong?
And I bet she's the one who uttered the words "Stand Down".
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