U.S. to sharpen focus on Iran

Office of Iran Affairs to 'facilitate change in Iranian policies'

From Elise Labott
CNN Washington Bureau
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Posted: 2:15 p.m. EST (19:15 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. State Department is creating a special office to deal with foreign policy changes related to Iran and to promote a democratic transition in the Islamic republic, State Department officials said Thursday. (...)

"Certainly this signals the fact that we believe that Iran and Iranian behavior is one of the greatest foreign policy priorities we will be dealing with over the next decade," a State Department official said.

The office will deal with Tehran's support for groups on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations and Iran's alleged human rights violations. The office also will be involved in issues related to Iran's nuclear energy program, which the Bush administration fears is designed to develop nuclear weapons. (...)

Several new positions are being created worldwide for the new Iran office. In addition to beefing up Washington-based staff working on Iran, a regional center will be built in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to focus on neighboring Iran with four new foreign service posts and four local employees to do outreach. There will also be officers stationed in Germany, Azerbaijan and Britain to deal with Iranian expatriates.

http://us.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/02/us.iran/index.html