InternationalWashington briefing: U.S. joins talks with Iran, requests release of detainees
Published: Saturday April 11, 2009
Silva Harotonian.
Washington - In a departure from Bush administration policy, the State Department said on April 8 that the United States will formally join other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany in their ongoing talks with Iran regarding its nuclear program.
Barack Obama advocated direct talks with Iran during his presidential campaign. Under George W. Bush, the United States insisted that Iran first halt nuclear fuel enrichment as a condition for U.S. participation in the talks.
Incidentally, on April 9 the New York Times reported that Iran had announced just days earlier making advances in its ability to enrich uranium.
On April 6, the State Department additionally urged Iran to release 34-year-old Silva Harotonian, an Iranian-Armenian employee of the U.S.-funded International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) imprisoned in Iran since last June.
The State Department's acting spokesperson Robert Wood said that charges against Ms. Harotonian - of plotting against the Iranian government on behalf of the United States - were "baseless" and that "she is reportedly in poor and deteriorating health as a direct consequence of her confinement."
Ms. Harotonian's case, first made public last January, was covered by the Los Angeles Times on April 2 and ABC News on April 7. (See also the Reporter's Feb. 28 edition.)
