Iranian Backchannel Diplomacy

Former Clinton Defense Secretary William Perry apparently held a series of secret talks with Iranian officials last year.

Former U.S. officials have had numerous conversations with Iranians over the years, but few, if any, with officials as influential as Mr. Samareh.

It was not clear whether Mr. Perry, a veteran statesman who also served as a Clinton administration troubleshooter on the North Korean nuclear program, was acting at the behest of the Bush administration or others. The Bush White House rejected several overtures for back-channel talks with Iranian officials in 2005 and 2006.

Mr. Perry was traveling and not available to comment, his office said.

The United States has accused Iran of developing a program that could give it nuclear weapons and supporting Arab militant groups. Iran denies that it is seeking weapons and says groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah are freedom fighters, not terrorists.

The talks were revealed as U.S. and European diplomats predicted that the Obama administration would not rush into high-level official meetings with Iran before the nation holds presidential elections in June. An aide to Mr. Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that the president will seek re-election.

The diplomats said the U.S. does not want to take actions that could boost Mr. Ahmadinejad's chances.

An Iranian Web site, Yari News, first reported Thursday that talks between Mr. Perry and Mr. Samareh were "about to be held" in Europe. Mr. Samareh, speaking to the Fars News Agency in Iran, denied this.

The subject of those talks, and who authorized the talks is not revealed, but it is hard to believe that the Bush Administration didn't know about them. If they didn't know, then who did.

Meanwhile, reports that the Obama Administration was trying to pen a letter to the Iranians have come up short. The US State Department denies any such action.

The White House and the State Department denied on Thursday a report in the British newspaper the Guardian that Obama administration was working on a letter to Iranian leadership aimed at easing relations between the two countries. The newspaper said the letter was in response to one sent to Obama by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shortly after Obama was elected.

White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs told reporters, "Neither the president nor the secretary of state has seen such a letter.” He added that there are a number of issues that the administration would like to see the Iranian leadership address, including its “illicit” nuclear program, support for terrorism and threats against Israel.

Backchannel diplomacy is a necessary part of foreign policy and allows plausible deniability when such efforts become public.

Backchannel diplomacy enabled Oslo to come to fruition, allowing Palestinian and Israeli negotiators to work on that deal, however flawed it turned out to be.

It has its place, but the circumstances of Perry's meetings makes one wonder who suggested and directed that the meetings take place; whether this was an effort by the incoming Obama Administration to get something started and/or the Bush Administration facilitating a smoother transfer of power to the incoming Obama Administration.