Iran

[Shahab3]

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Mottaki visits Iran’s interest section in Washington

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made a rare stop in Washington on Wednesday to visit the Iran interests section at the Pakistani embassy.
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Calling it “a significant gesture,” analyst Trita Parsi believed it was the first time in a decade that Washington had granted a request by an Iranian foreign minister to visit a U.S. city outside the United Nations in New York.

But Philip Crowley, the State Department's assistant secretary of state for public affairs, played down any suggestion that the U.S. decision to grant Mottaki's request amounted to a gesture to Iran by the new administration.

“I wouldn't read too much into this. It was a straightforward request, and we granted it,” Crowley told reporters.
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