U.S. Held Secret Talks With Iran Before The 2003 Iraq Invasion

New York Times: U.S. Conferred With Iran Before Iraq Invasion, Book Says

WASHINGTON — Senior American officials held confidential talks with Iran about Iraq’s future in advance of the United States-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and secured a promise that the Iranian military would not fire at United States warplanes that strayed into Iranian airspace, according to a new book by a ranking Bush administration official.

The previously undisclosed meetings, which were held in Geneva with Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations and future foreign minister, continued even after American troops seized Baghdad in April 2003.

“We wanted a commitment that Iran would not fire on U.S. aircraft if they accidentally flew over Iranian territory,” Zalmay Khalilzad, a former ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan and the United Nations, wrote in the “The Envoy,” being published this month by St. Martin’s Press.

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WNU Editor: I am not surprised by this revelation that there were back-channels between the U.S. and Iran during this time (and probably earlier). What I am surprised is that it is becoming public only now.