To tell the full story of the Spring 2003 dance that Iran, the U.S., and Europe briefly engaged in regarding a set of proposals — allegedly from both sides that would have led to normalizing US-Iran relations — one has to set the parameters of both stage and performers in this drama.
I plan to write this story in pieces, as there are parts of it that are still incomplete — and some parts still unknown. I will then tie these pieces together.
As I offer these pieces on this interesting proposal, I look forward to any “privately sent” communications that can help me focus, retool, or amend the story, the stage and players as I see them coming together.
My email is steve@thewashingtonnote.com — and all confidences will be completely maintained and protected.
Here are the relevant actors as I currently see them:
Tim Guldimann — Former Swiss Ambassador to Iran and currently Professor of International Relations at the University of Frankfurt; Co-Author of the Report on the Nuclear Impasse in Iran (International Crisis Group)
Sadeq Kharrazi — Former Iran Ambassador to France; Nephew of Former Iran Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and brother-in-law to the son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
Javad Zarif — Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
Kamal Kharrazi — Former Foreign Minister of Iran; stepped down August 24, 2005
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — Supreme Leader of Iran
An Undisclosed U.S. Businessman — a person in some accounts of this story who has not yet been revealed
Flynt Leverett — Former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council; Former Middle East specialst at the CIA and Department of State; currently Senior Fellow and Director, Geopolitics of Energy Initiative, New America Foundation
Lawrence Wilkerson — Former Chief of Staff, Department of State; currently a visiting professor at the College of William & Mary
Colin Powell: Former Secretary of State of the United States
Richard Haass — Former Director of Policy Planning, Department of State; currently President of the Council on Foreign Relations
Richard Armitage – Former Deputy Secretary of State
William J. Burns — former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; currently US Ambassador to Russia
Bob Ney — Former Congressman from Ohio’s 18th District (R-OH); resigned in November 2006 and now serving prison sentence after being found guilty of corruption; was only Farsi-speaking member of Congress when he served
Trita Parsi — Former aide to Congressman Bob Ney; now President of the National Iranian American Council and author of the forthcoming Treacherous Triangle: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States
Richard Cheney — Vice President of the United States
George Bush — President of the United States
Condoleezza Rice — Former National Security Advisor to the President and now Secretary of State
Elliot Abrams — Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy
Karl Rove — Former Senior Adviser to President George W. Bush and now Deputy Chief of Staff to the President
Stephen Hadley — Former Deputy National Security Advisor to the President; now holds the office of National Security Advisor
Ryan Crocker — Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs; then Ambassador of the US to Pakistan; now nominated to serve as US Ambassador to Iraq
James Dobbins — Former Special Envoy for Afghanistan; Organizer of the Bonn Conference; now Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND Corporation
Zalmay Khalilzad — Former Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan; Former US Ambassador to Iraq; nominated to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations
Hillary Mann — Former career foreign service officer in the State Department focusing on the Middle East and Persian Gulf regions
Jillian Burns — Career foreign service officer previously working in the Department of State’s Bureau of Near East Affairs; now serving in US Consulate in Dubai
Philo Dibble — Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs; currently Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Organization Affairs
John Bolton — Former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; former US Ambassador to the United Nations; now Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
If there are more who should be added to this list, let me know who — and why.
More later.
— Steve Clemons
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