The State Department today confirmed that a senior Iranian official was in Washington, but he would not say how he arrived in the country or what he was doing here. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington today that Mohammed Nahavandian was in the United States legally, but not to engage in talks with an administration official. “He's not here for meetings with US government officials to my knowledge; certainly not with members of the state department,” McCormack said. The United States does not have a diplomatic relationship with Iran, though the two countries have in the past engaged in discussions regarding issues of mutual interests, such as the U.S. military overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. The United States has authorized its ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, to hold direct discussions with the Iranians about Iraq, but nothing else.
