WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- The United States plans to re-establish a diplomatic presence in Iran after a nearly 30-year absence, The Guardian reported Thursday.
The White House plans to make announcement in August to establish a U.S. interests section, a move that would help set up a full embassy, and a diplomatic corps in the Middle Eastern country, sources told the British newspaper. An interests section carries out the functions of an embassy.
The White House said Wednesday that senior State Department official William Burns will be in Switzerland to hear Tehran's response to a European offer designed to resolve the nuclear standoff between Iran and Western countries. Burns' presence at the talks is a turnaround from U.S. President George Bush ruling out direct talks on the nuclear issues until Iran suspends its uranium enrichment program.
The return of U.S. diplomats to Iran depends on agreement by Tehran and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad indicated he wouldn't oppose a such a move, the Tehran Times reported.
"Iran welcomes any proposal for improving ties even from the White House leaders," Ahmadinejad said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has established a group to study the feasibility of re-establishing a diplomatic presence in Iran, the Guardian reported.
U.S. interests in Iran are overseen by the Swiss Embassy. The United States severing diplomatic ties after students, as part of the revolution that toppled the Shah, stormed the U.S. Embassy and held hostages from 1979 to 1981.
