Iran, US Agree on New Diplomatic Offices

Iran Says They've Been Trying to Reach Deal for 30 Years

by Jason Ditz,

The US State Department today announced that there is a deal with Iran that willallow both nations to move their official diplomatic presences in one anothers’ nations to new facilities.

These aren’t technically embassies. Rather, the Iranian Interests Section in Washington DC will be moving to a new building, though under the auspices of Pakistan’s Embassy, while the US Interests Section in Tehran, which has been operating out of the Swiss Embassy, will be getting its own new facility.

The State Department is downplaying the significance of the moves, saying it is simply in keeping with “standard protocol,” though Iranian officials say they’d been trying to get permission to move to a new space in DC for 30 years.

If Iran really has been trying to get a new facility for so long, the timing is probably related to improving US-Iranian relations, though the State Department, ever coy, doesn’t seem to want to admit that.

http://news.antiwar.com/2015/05/08/iran-us-agree-on-new-diplomatic-offices/