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The international research center functioning in the United States of America, named Pugwash spread the information on January 30, about conducting of the USA and Iranian authorities a secret meeting four times in 2008. Although these meeting were unofficial, they had kept in secret. A secretary-general of the organization Paulo Cato Ramoisino met with the officials of some countries and discussed the USA-Iranian relations during his visit to Iran 2 years ago.
A manager of the center Jeffery Boutwill (1995 Nobel Peace Prize holder) talking about it noted that they had had a secret and unofficial meeting four times during last year in Europe with the Iranian officials. These meetings had taken place in Austria and Holland mainly. According to the words of Boutwill each of these meetings had lasted one or two days. But he refused to name the official people participated in the meetings from the Iranian party. Jeffery Boutwill also stated that a main purpose of the meetings was a discussion of the acceptable ways for formation of the bilateral relationship and the efforts for organization of the healthy relations repudiating the incendiary calls. The Pugwash’s official noted as well that along with the Iranian nuclear problem it was also considered in these discussions the security problems disturbing both countries and a resolution of the Middle East problem, as well as the economical and commercial issues. Considering the negotiated discussions Boutwill said that there was a channel at least for a comparison of the problems between two states.
The Washington Times wrote on January 29 that William Perry, an American former Secretary of Defense (being in Obama’s team at the moment) and Mujtaba Samarei Hashimi, a close counselor of Ahmadinejad had conducted a number of the secret and unofficial meetings in 2008. The main issue of the meetings was an Iranian nuclear problem. The Iranian press have not published any information on this news again as it does every time. Just the News Agency Mehr stated according to the Iranian Security Minister Gholamhussein Mohseni Ejei that the Iranian officials had not conducted any official meeting with the USA.
During Bush power, just a time an Iranian official and an American diplomat had taken part in the meeting organized by 5+1 group in Geneva and had discussed the Iranian nuclear problem. William Boronz, a deputy of the US Secretary of State and Said Jalili, a Supreme Delegate on the Nuclear Problems of Iran were representing officially their countries in the meeting.
And in general, the claims on conducting the secret meetings between the US and Iran is presented periodically. For instance, a claim of realization of the secret Iranian–USA negotiations in Turkey a few times in 2008 had appealed, and even it had been claimed that one of them occurred in the month of June. And on April 2008, the Independent claimed conducting of the secret discussions between the USA and Iran during 5 years incessantly with the participation of “the important persons” of these countries. In the claims appealed by the Independent according to the former US diplomatist Thomas Pickering it is noted as well that these secret meetings had been organized by the UNA-USA circle.
And on May 2002, Mohsin Mirdamadi, a chief of the Iranian Parliament Foreign Relations Committee proclaimed that “he had the information about conducting the secret negotiations between Iran and the US”, that “Paul Wolfovitz, a deputy Secretary of Defense of the USA had also affirmed that”, but the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had repudiated it.
In any case, although none of the official source in both countries has affirmed these meetings, there is not anyone denied it plainly either. Most likely these negotiations are conducted secretly. However, especially by request of the Iranian party, the matter is not exposed thus much. Because this issue is very sensitive for the Iranian officials continuously given the radical statements inside. There is another discordant nuance too in connection with the problem. Yet during Mohammad Khatami’s presidency when a matter of renewal of the USA-Iranian relations had been brought up for discussion, the Supreme Religious Leader said that “every hand extended for America should be cut off.” Disuse of this slogan plainly afterward promote coming to conclusion that an extension of “which hands” makes a big difference.
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