Unusual direct communication from US to Iran

[seafan]

Source: AP

HE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United States used an international meeting on Afghanistan to make an unusual direct diplomatic overture to Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the Americans delivered a letter to the Iranians at Tuesday's meeting in The Hague. The letter asks Iran to help resolve the cases of three detained or missing Americans.

The cases, and the U.S. position on them, were already known. What's new is the Obama administration's choice to approach Iran directly, instead of through a go-between. The two countries have had no formal diplomatic ties for nearly three decades.

Clinton said she sent Iran a direct letter concerning three U.S. citizens unable to return from Iran: Robert Levinson, Roxana Saberi, Esha Momeni. Their return would be a humanitarian gesture, the letter said.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jRnjEhwACVBHbQODZDALnaUXWhQQD979ASGG7

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Background information on Robert Levinson here:

Search for Florida man in Iran stalls (Former FBI agent)