Obama: Iran should take U.S. seriously
Sun Jul 27, 2008 5:08pm EDT
By Caren Bohan
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Presidential candidate
Barack Obama said President George W. Bush's decision to send a senior diplomat to nuclear talks with Iran was a substantive move and should be taken seriously by Tehran.
Obama, a Democrat, has been highly critical in the past of Bush's policies toward Iran and has promised that if elected he would pursue a policy of greater engagement aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program.
But in a rare signal of solidarity with the current Republican administration, Obama told a news conference in Paris on Friday that Iran should not wait for the next U.S. president to try to reach a deal over its nuclear program.
He also praised Bush's decision to send senior U.S. diplomat William Burns to talks in Geneva with Iranian officials.
"Bill Burns is a very serious guy. And the Iranians should take that gesture seriously," Obama told Reuters in an interview on Saturday as he flew back from a weeklong tour abroad.
Obama, who is running against Republican
John McCain in the November election, is seeking to burnish his foreign policy credentials. He traveled to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain.
Iran was a key topic in many of the meetings he had with leaders of those countries.
Iran has refused demands to freeze sensitive atomic work the West fears is aimed at making bombs. Tehran says the nuclear program is aimed at the peaceful purposes of generating electricity.
Continued...
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Wow! I thought bush was totally brain dead! It appears he has gone back on his word of "no talks". I am flabbergasted! He may actually have some common sense after all. I also believe Iran should try and defuse the situation, Israel can't wait to bomb, bomb, bomb, bring America and the rest of the world into a conflict that will surely quickly get out of hand...
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