"While we are opposed to the Iranian regime, we ought to be open to
increased contacts with the Iranian people," Undersecretary of State
Nicholas Burns said.
The administration has asked Congress for $100 million to engage with
Iran. The request for fiscal 2008 included $20 million for the Persian
service of Voice of America, $8.1 million for Radio Farda, as well as $5.5
million for consular affairs. Another $75 million would be allocated to
civil society and human rights projects in Iran.
Over the last year, officials said, the State Department, in a $66
million program, has expanded its Persian-language television, radio and
Internet presence to communicate with Iranians. They also cited citizen
exchange programs that enabled Iranian students and professionals to become
familiar with American people and society.
On March 29, Burns told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the
U.S. program was meant to compensate for a lack of formal diplomatic
relations with Teheran. He cited the lack of U.S. businesses or journalists
in Iran.
"We've all seen the huge, long-term impact of having someone study in
our country and get to know the American people and what that means in 30,
40 years when that person is in a position of some influence in their
society," Burns said.
Officials said the department would seek to engage intellectuals,
parliamentarians and other Iranians not directly linked with the Teheran
regime. They said the effort has been urged by both the Bush administration
and Congress.
[On Tuesday, ABC News reported that Iran has more than tripled its
ability to produce enriched uranium since January 2007. The U.S. television
network said Iran has installed about 1,000 gas centrifuges as part of its
uranium enrichment program.]
Burns said State has also increased monitoring of Iran. Over the past
two years, the department expanded its Iran desk from one to eight people
and established an Iran monitoring office staffed with Persian speakers in
the United Arab Emirates port of Dubai.
In his testimony, Burns compared the Dubai office to the U.S. outpost in
Riga, Latvia. U.S. diplomats used Latvia to study the neighboring Soviet
Union before Washington opened its embassy in Moscow in 1933.
"I think there is certainly evidence that as Americans who have been
innovative have attempted to get to know the Iranians better and have been
going into the country and so forth, there have been productive results,"
Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, said. "It is critically important that we get to know Iran
better."
Meanwhile, the United States has reported the disappearance of a
former federal law enforcement agent in Iran.
The FBI said the former agent, who also worked for the Drug Enforcement
Agency, traveled to Iran in early 2007 on private business and has not been
heard from in nearly a month. Officials said Robert Levinson retired a
decade ago and was no longer working for the U.S. government.
"At this time, there are no indications that this matter should be
viewed other than as a missing person case," FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said.
The report raised the prospect that Iran might be holding the American.
On March 23, Teheran captured 15 British sailors in the Shatt Al Arab
waterway that divides Iraq and Iran.
The search for Levinson came amid an alert by the U.S. Navy of an
Iranian attack in the Gulf. Officials said the navy raised its alert level
in wake of the Iranian capture of the British sailors.
"We need to be mindful of not just protecting our units but ensure that
our people are protected when they are off their ship and then, we have
procedures in place to ensure that something like that doesn't occur to
American sailors," U.S. Navy operations chief Adm. Michael Mullen said on
Tuesday. "I am confident that we got those in place but I am mindful,
watching what occurred, that we need to be very vigilant with respect to
that."
The FBI has provided details of the missing American. Kolko said the
59-year-old Levinson, whose 28-year career in the FBI and DEA focused on
organized crime, was last seen in southern Iran on March 11.
On Tuesday, officials said Levinson, of Coral Springs, Fla., was
believed to have been working on a film on Kish island, which Iran has
sought to promote as a tourist and free trade zone. They said Levinson
arrived in Iran from the United Arab Emirates.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States has not
linked the missing man to the Iranian detention of the 15 British sailors.
Since March 12, McCormack said, the United States, through Switzerland, has
sought information from Iran regarding the American.
Teheran has not provided information on Levinson, McCormack. Teheran has
blamed the United States for the disappearance of several Iranian officials
and commanders.
"I do know that they have gotten back to us and said they don't know his
welfare and whereabouts," McCormack said.