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Iran Upheaval Complicates U.S. Moves

[Wall Street Journal] Gerald F. Seib - The most delicate question is whether there is a way for the Obama administration to open a conversation with Iran's government without also discouraging or undercutting the opposition, which has demonstrated that there is broad dissatisfaction - even disgust - with that government. "It's possible with a great deal of nuance," says Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. If the talks happen not directly but within a broader conversation organized by the group of world powers, he says, "I think there is a way those discussions can be had without pouring water on the opposition or sending the signal to the millions in the streets that the U.S. is trying to cut a deal with the government." But, Sadjadpour adds, talking directly with the now-iron-fisted Mr. Ahmadinejad would be "poisonous."
2009-08-28 08:00:00
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