Washington/Paris: July 18, 2008- IR Summary/NYT -  President Bush has switched over from his previous policy on Iran; he has softened his stand and reconsidered to establish a diplomatic post in Iran so as to make another effort to fuse the tension over Nuclear Program, keeping in view his 6 months left in office.

Not only Iran but several other countries are relieved of the war threat against Iran that President Bush wanted Israel to do proper preparation to attack them.

US administration is now considering establishing an American diplomatic presence in Iran for the first time since relations were severed during the 444-day occupation of the American Embassy in Tehran nearly three decades ago, European and American officials said on Thursday.

The idea would be to establish a so-called interests section, rather than a fully staffed embassy, with American diplomats who could issue visas to Iranians seeking to visit the United States.

But the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under diplomatic rules, cautioned that the idea had not been approved by the White House and could be delayed or blocked by opposition within the administration.

The proposal comes as the White House is adopting new tactics in dealing with Iran. With six months left in office, Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appear to be looking for new ways to reach out to the Iranian people as the administration tries to bring a peaceful resolution to the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program.

On Saturday, William J. Burns, the State Department’s third-ranking official, is to arrive in Geneva to participate, along with European Union nations, in talks with Iran aimed at persuading it to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for economic and political incentives.

The talks are a first. A department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said on Thursday that an interests section would not be discussed.

One senior European official said that Mr. Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, had told a number of his counterparts in Tokyo in recent weeks that Ms. Rice was committed to moving forward on the decision to put American diplomats in Tehran, but that the decision still faced opposition from conservatives.

“My feeling is that the decision was more or less taken and the administration’s problem was when and how to announce it,” the official said. “They want to do it, but for domestic political reasons they don’t know how and when, and maybe even if, they can do it.”

In Washington on Thursday, the White House and State Department declined to comment, saying they would not discuss internal deliberations. But they did not discount reports that the idea was under consideration.

“We are always looking for ways to engage the people of Iran more, make it easier for them to get visas,” said Gordon D. Johndroe, the deputy White House press secretary.

Iran, for its part, seems to have embraced the idea of a higher American diplomatic presence.

“We welcome any move which would expand human relations,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on state television this week. Full