Rice Says Premature US Iraq Pullout Would Cause Immeasurable Harm





Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a war veterans group Tuesday that a premature U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq would cause immeasurable harm to U.S. interests. Domestic political pressure for at least a timetable for removing troops has been mounting with the approach of elections in November.

Condoleezza Rice at the American Legion convention
Condoleezza Rice at the American Legion convention
The Bush administration is using the conservative-leaning veterans group, the American Legion, to mount a defense of its Iraq policy, amid growing calls for a withdrawal timetable from opposition Democrats and even some Republicans in the run-up to the November congressional elections.

Addressing the organization's annual convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, Secretary Rice insisted the joint crackdown by Iraqi and U.S. forces against sectarian violence in Baghdad is showing some success, as are so-called clear, hold and build security operations in outlying areas.

The Bush administration has resisted setting any withdrawal schedule before Iraqi forces are able to handle security on their own. Rice told the veterans the strategy can and will succeed, and warned that if the United States quits before the job is done, the cost of failure will be, in her words, "severe, indeed immeasurable":

"If we abandon the Iraqi people before their government is strong enough to secure the country, then we will show reformers across the region that America cannot be trusted to keep its word," said Condoleezza Rice. "We will embolden extremists, enemies of moderation and of democratic reform. We will leave the makings of a failed state in Iraq like that one in Afghanistan in the 1990's which became the base for al-Qaida and the launching pad for the September 11th hijackers."

Rice said that terrorists in Iraq, if they are not defeated, would continue to attack U.S. interests, which is why, she said, President Bush has called Iraq a central front in the war on terrorism.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addressed the American Legion gathering earlier Tuesday and President Bush is scheduled to speak there later in the week.

In his remarks, Rumsfeld said the world faces what he termed a new type of fascism in Islamic extremism and likened critics of U.S. war strategy to those who tried to appease Hitler's Germany before the Second World War.

The defense chief questioned whether today's extremists can be appeased, and portrayed administration critics as suffering from moral or intellectual confusion.

The Rumsfeld remarks drew quick condemnation from leading Democrats. Senator Jack Reid said he took particular offense to Rumsfeld's suggestion that his critics are unpatriotic, and called the Secretary's address a political rant to cover up his own incompetence.

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1 dead, 13 injured in hit-and-run spree

JULIANA BARBASSA,

Associated Press Writer

The driver of a sport utility vehicle plowed across sidewalks and crosswalks throughout the city Tuesday, killing one man and injuring at least 13 people in a series of attacks on pedestrians and motorists, police said.

The man struck people in 12 locations until police surrounded him with squad cars, authorities said.

The spree began around noon in Fremont, where a man walking along the side of the road was hit by an SUV. He was thrown into a field and killed, police Sgt. Chris Mazzone said.

Witnesses said the driver did not slow down.

The driver then crossed the bay into San Francisco, where he injured at least 13 people during a 20-minute hit-and-run spree, police said.

The victims were taken to three hospitals. One was in critical condition.

The rampage ended when police arrested the man in the Presidio Heights district. The black SUV was still in the middle of the street an hour later, its front end and windshield smashed in.

"These are the things, these are so senseless," Mayor Gavin Newsom said after meeting with victims and their families. "They're utterly inexplicable. They're impossible to rationalize."

The driver's name was not immediately released, but state motor vehicle records show the license plate on the SUV registered to Omeed A. Popal of Fremont.

An aide to the mayor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the open investigation, said Popal was the suspect in custody. Court and property records list Popal's age as 29.

A woman who identified herself as his cousin said he was having recurring nightmares about someone coming to kill him and had been taking medication.

"He thought the devil was coming to him," said Zargona Ramish, who went to the family's home Tuesday afternoon while Popal's relatives were speaking with police. "He is a very good person. He is not like that. What's wrong with him?"

The mayhem left a trail of debris on sidewalks and streets. White sheets covered a bloodstained patch of concrete. A broken pair of eyeglasses lay in the middle of the road. And a lone running shoe sat on the asphalt cordoned off by yellow tape.

No weapons were found on the suspect, though the car had not been searched, said Sgt. Neville Gittens. There was no information on whether drugs or alcohol were involved, and it was unclear how fast he was driving, he said.

"It was very chaotic," Gittens said.

Daniel Fulford, a bartender at Frankie's Bohemian Cafe, was tending to customers when he heard tires screeching and saw the black SUV careening around a corner.

"I heard his tires," he said. "Then I heard a couple of thuds. I looked out and saw a couple of people lying in the middle of the street. They were just pedestrians walking."

As bystanders began gathering around the victims, the SUV came back around, swerving and knocking over newspaper boxes on the sidewalk, Fulford said.

"Everybody started freaking out, getting out of the street," he said. "That car was like a weapon. He could have come right at us."

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NTSB: Lexiington controller had turned back

JEFFREY McMURRAY,

Associated Press Writer

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair Flight 5181 crashed cleared the jet for takeoff, then turned his back to do some "administrative duties" as the aircraft veered down the wrong runway, a federal investigator said Tuesday.


The jet stuggled to get airborne and crashed in a field after taking off Sunday from a 3,500-foot runway instead of an adjoining one that was twice as long. Experts said the plane needed at least 5,000 feet for takeoff.

The air traffic controller had an unobstructed view of the runways and had cleared the aircraft for takeoff from the longer runway, said

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National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman.

Then, "he turned his back to perform administrative duties," Hersman said. "At that point, he was doing a traffic count."

Earlier Tuesday, the

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Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged violating its owns policies when it assigned only one controller to the airport tower that morning. The policy is outlined in a 2005 directive requiring that control tower observations and radar approach operations be handled separately.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the controler had to do his own job — keeping track of airplanes on the ground and in the air up to a few miles away — as well as radar duties.

The controller had been working at the Lexington airport for 17 years and was fully qualified, Hersman said.

Polehinke was flying the plane, but it was the flight's captain, Jeffrey Clay, who taxied the aircraft onto the wrong runway, Hersman said. Clay then turned over the controls to Polehinke for takeoff, the investigator said.

Polehinke was pulled from the burning plane after the crash but has not been able to tell investigators why the pilots tried to take off from the wrong runway.

Both crew members were familiar with the Lexington airport, according to Hersman. She said Clay had been there six times in the past two years, and Polehinke had been there 10 times in the past two years — but neither had been to the airport since a taxiway repaving project just a week earlier that had altered the taxiway route.

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The Violent Underground

Kevin Sites,

The tunnels of Cu Chi played a critical role in North Vietnam’s war effort, and were possibly an inspiration for Hezbollah's bunker system. Today, they are a tourist draw.

Editor's note: Though Vietnam is not an active conflict, Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone believes it is important to examine the impact of the Vietnam War. In this series, we'll feature the perspective of civilians and soldiers, Vietnamese and Americans, to reflect on Vietnam's past and present.

CU CHI, Vietnam - When U.S. troops first deployed in large numbers to Vietnam in the mid-1960s, one of the first steps of the Army's 25th Division was to build a large base in the Cu Chi District.

They hoped to counter the strength and influence of the Viet Cong or VC (Vietnamese communists allied with the north) in the region, who were in easy striking distance of Saigon only 60 kilometers away.

But it wasn't until many weeks later that the Army realized they had built the camp on top of part of the Viet Cong's underground tunnel network — allowing VC to pop up from camouflaged hatches inside the American perimeter and attack them while they slept. It was if they had set up their tents on the mounds of stinging ants.

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At Cu Chi, visitors can explore the Viet Cong tunnels. » View

Having difficulty finding and fighting the VC in their elaborate tunnel network that spider-webbed through the countryside for 200 kilometers, the U.S. began using chemicals like the infamous herbicide, Agent Orange, to defoliate the area.

When that failed, they began sending soldiers called "tunnel rats" into the underground network to find and destroy the VC, but more often than not, it was the tunnel rats who ended up dead.

Toward the end of the 1960s the U.S. carpet-bombed the region with B-52s, destroying almost everything in the district — including most of the tunnels. By that time it was too late. The tunnels had already done their job, including helping to facilitate the 1968 Tet Offensive, which many historians believe turned the tide of the war.

But the legacy of the tunnels has not just been relegated to the history books. Intelligence analysts familiar with the military tactics of Hezbollah say the guerrilla group studied the VC tunnel network in creating their own bunker system in south Lebanon and used it successfully against the

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Israel Defense Forces during the recent conflict.

Today, the tunnels of Cu Chi have become one of the most popular tourist destinations near Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).

A tourist brochure inviting visitors to the site reads, "in order that you understand how arduous and protracted the struggle was, and to understand our profound aspiration for peace, independence, happiness and living a comfortable life forever."

Guides, clad in the VC's black "pajamas" and traditional conical straw hats, escort more than 400 visitors through the grounds each day, beginning with a viewing of an old black and white propaganda film — a North Vietnamese version of the newsreel, extolling the exploits of the VC fighters who used the tunnels.

In a classroom setting, the guides explain the history of the tunnels and how they were built over a period of 25 years, beginning in the late 1940s by the Viet Minh, the rebel army fighting French colonialism in Vietnam.

The early tunnels were simply bunkers hewn out of the hard red clay, with picks and straw baskets to remove the soil. The VC repaired and expanded the tunnels in an effort to fight a technically superior military force during the "American War."

They are a marvel of engineering, weaving underground for several stories and linking together living, dining and meeting areas, as well as weapons factories and subterranean hospitals, complete with operating rooms.

But perhaps their most significant function was to allow the VC to coordinate their operations in the south, both by utilizing surprise attacks then disappearing underground, while also inserting agents and saboteurs into the south.

Because of their strategic value, the entrances to the tunnels were well-protected both by camouflage and booby traps.

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Guides explain the intricacy of the Cu Chi tunnels and some of the Viet Cong's booby traps.» View

A tour guide nicknamed Jackie (because he looks like Jackie Chan, he says) pulls up the lid of one of the well-concealed wooden hatches to a small hideaway. It fits perfectly flush with a square-framed box, sealing out rain water. Surprisingly, when Jackie kicks dirt and leaves over the top, it disappears.

"When the U.S. soldier opens," he says, "it is very narrow, he cannot enter."

Jackie invites people on the tour to try and fit down the hole. One man from Ireland removes everything in his pockets but still can't get his hips through the opening.

Next Jackie shows the group a series of primitive but effective booby traps designed to stop the tunnel rats and search dogs the U.S. Army set down into the systems.

The largest is the size of a door and is a variation on a Vietnamese tiger trap. The door is suspended on an axle through its center. Jackie steps on one end of the door which gives way, spinning on its axle, allowing the unfortunate soldier to fall several feet below onto a deadly bed of sharpened bamboo stakes. The tour group flinches as the spikes are revealed in what's clear would be a particularly gruesome death in an agonizing, immobilizing trap.

Continuing on the dirt path, Jackie leads the group past the remains of an American tank, its main gun drooping to one side. He stops for a moment to allow people to take pictures.

At another stop he demonstrates a series of smaller but no less debilitating booby traps, including one that gives the men in group an uncomfortable moment of contemplating its emasculating consequences.

It's an entrance booby trap; a rake of wooden spikes that swings down on a hinge from the top of a doorway if soldiers tried to force entry. But the rake is double-jointed with a second hinge.

"So if soldiers tried to stop it like this," says Jackie, grabbing the rake staff to stop its momentum, "the second hinge would continue up." He shows the second set of spikes landing in the region of his groin.

I ask him how the VC didn't fall prey to their own booby traps.

"They knew them very well," he says, "but also they would only set them when Americans or their collaborators were in the area."

Finally, we get a chance to experience what it was like to move through the tunnel system itself. Jackie shows us into an entrance enlarged for tourists. Those who want can enter the tunnels and emerge 15 minutes and a few hundred feet away.

These tunnels at Cu Chi are not for the claustrophobic. The passageways are hot, dark and tiny, a little more than 3 feet high and 2 feet across. With all my camera gear, I can only negotiate it crawling on my hands and knees. There are a few dim lights along the way, which illuminate only a few feet of the tunnels. Once you pass them you are moving in almost total darkness. Emerging near the end, dirty and drenched in sweat from the crawl, I wonder how anyone could have spent months in the tunnels when even a few minutes seems a difficult ordeal.

The tour ends at a shooting range. Visitors are offered a chance to fire some of the some weapons used by both American and Viet Cong forces for $1.60 a bullet. Everything from Kalashnikov rifles to M-60 machine guns are available.

Some tourists find the finale disappointing.

"We expected it to be about the ingenious ways used to escape detection," says Nicky Ashby, 26, from London. "But instead, it's more about techniques of torture with all the booby traps."

Tourists at the Cu Chi tunnels

"It seems to me like it's celebrating the violence rather than the idea of their perseverance," says another, who doesn't want to be identified. "As a tourist attraction, ending with the guns is a little crude."

But regardless of whether all customers leave satisfied or not, the tunnels are a significant historical landmark, as well as a big tourist draw for Vietnam today.

And despite their strategic value to the North Vietnamese war effort, they also signify the sacrifice of those committed to that cause. Of the 16,000 VC that lived in and fought from the tunnels, only 6,000 survived the war.

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Dozens killed in Iraq oil blast


Scene of oil pipeline blast, Iraq
The oil pipeline explosion caused a huge fire

At least 34 people have been killed and others injured by an explosion at a disused oil pipeline in southern Iraq.

A police spokesman said people had been siphoning fuel from the pipeline in an industrial zone south of Diwaniya, 130km (80 miles) south of Baghdad.

The explosion caused a massive fire, which police said was hampering the rescue effort.

In a separate development, police found more than 20 bodies at two sites in Baghdad. All the victims had been shot.

There are conflicting reports on the number of dead in the pipeline explosion. A unnamed police source quoted by Reuters news agency said 50 people had been killed.

Police and other security forces have cordoned off the site. Officials say the cause of the blast is still being investigated.

Iraq map

Witnesses told Reuters the explosion happened at about 11pm local time (1900 GMT) on Monday, when a large group of people were taking fuel from two pools.

Government officials said the pipeline, which used to carry petrol to the capital, had been out of operation since 2003.

The BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Baghdad says the practice of siphoning fuel from pipelines is apparently not uncommon in Iraq.

Diwaniya was the scene on Monday of fierce clashes between Iraqi troops and Shia militiamen.

At least 19 soldiers were killed and more than 40 people were wounded in Diwaniya. Officials said some 40 gunmen from the Mehdi Army had also died.

Security operation

After the bodies were found in Baghdad, police said the victims had been bound and shot, and some bore signs of torture. Their identities are not known.

Eleven of the bodies were found near a school in a south-western district of the capital. At least 10 other bodies were dumped behind a Shia mosque in the west of the city.

The deaths come at a time when US and Iraqi security forces are engaged in a new security operation aimed at reducing the level of violence in the city.

Also on Tuesday, insurgents killed two Shia militiamen in the city of Baquba north of Baghdad.

Iraqi police told the AFP news agency the militiamen were killed in an attack on the office of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

The US military in Iraq announced on Tuesday that two US soldiers died in Iraq - one in fighting in Anbar province and the second from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident.

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Italian Troops Begin Journey to Lebanon





29 August 2006



A naval task force with the first 1,000 Italian troops set sail for Lebanon Tuesday following a farewell ceremony in the waters off the southern coast of Italy. Up to 2,500 Italian troops will be deployed as part of the U.N. mission in Lebanon before the end of the year.

A woman holding her baby waves to Soldiers aboard of the Italian Navy ship San Giorgio leaving for Lebanon
A woman holding her baby waves to soldiers aboard of the Italian Navy ship San Giorgio leaving for Lebanon
A farewell ceremony for the first contingent of Italian troops headed to Lebanon as part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was held Tuesday aboard the flagship of the Italian navy, the Garibaldi aircraft carrier.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Defense Minister Arturo Parisi were flown aboard the aircraft carrier in the waters off the southern Italian port city of Brindisi.

The defense minister told the troops this is no doubt among the most delicate and demanding missions since the end of World War II. He said it would be a long, risky, costly and difficult mission. But, he added, this was a necessary United Nations deployment to stabilize the area.

Prime Minister Prodi said Italy, Europe and the international community could not tolerate another crisis in such a vital area as the Mediterranean. Since the center-left took power in Italy in the spring, Prodi's government has focused on increasing its role in the Mediterranean and said Europe needs to pay more attention to the Middle East.

Italy has taken a leading role in Lebanon pledging the largest contingent of any country with 2,500 men for the U.N. mission and agreeing to lead the peacekeepers on the ground from February. The government has attracted wide support for the deployment in Lebanon even from leftists and peace activists.

Italians see the mission as very different from the troop deployment in Iraq. Some see soldiers in Lebanon as necessary to stop Israeli aggression. Others see it as a necessary step to stop the violence and extremism of Hezbollah.

Addressing the troops, Mr. Prodi said Tuesday Italians would follow the work of the soldiers with pride and trust, because although they are carrying weapons, they are going to Lebanon exclusively to bring peace.

The naval task force that set sail from Italy's southern coast consisted in four navy ships and an aircraft carrier. The troops are expected to disembark starting Friday at the Lebanese port of Naqoura. Navy officials said that initially the ground troops would be deployed in the region of Tyre.

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Israel aims to end siege 'soon'


Israeli naval officer watches passenger ferry off Beirut - 18 July
Israel has maintained its air and sea blockade for weeks
Israel hopes to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon soon, Defence Minister Amir Peretz has told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Mr Annan has made clear that he intends to press for an end to the blockade throughout his 24-hour visit to Israel.

He flew to Tel Aviv by helicopter after witnessing the scenes of devastation in south Lebanon wrought during a month of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Mr Annan's regional tour is aimed at bolstering the two-week-old truce.

Before leaving Lebanon, Mr Annan described the embargo as "a humiliation and an infringement on [Lebanese] their sovereignty".

The issue was among the key points raised at his meeting with Mr Peretz, his first with a senior politician after arriving in Israel.

Mr Peretz did not specify what conditions would have to be in place before Israel lifted the blockade, but the government has previously made clear its concerns about the possible rearming of Hezbollah would have to be addressed first.

Embattled leaders

Mr Annan will have talks on Wednesday with embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who - along with Mr Peretz - has been heavily criticised over the way the military action was conducted.

Kofi Annan meets Karnit Goldwasser, wife of captured soldier Ehud Goldwasser
Kofi Annan met families of the captured Israeli soldiers

He also held a meeting on Tuesday with the families of the two soldiers whose capture sparked the crisis.

Mr Annan has urged Hezbollah to free the men speedily.

The BBC's Matthew Price in Jerusalem says that it is highly unusual to see the UN chief in Israel - with several Security Council resolutions outstanding against it - and many Israelis view the organisation with suspicion.

But put simply, Israel currently needs the UN, he says.

Mr Olmert's only hope of regaining public support is a secure northern border - and that can only happen through the UN force, our correspondent says.

Before leaving Lebanon for Israel, Mr Annan met Lebanese leaders to discuss the force, which is to be expanded from 2,000 to 15,000.

He later flew by helicopter from Beirut to the UN peacekeepers' headquarters in the southern port of Naqoura, in an area still occupied by Israeli troops and tanks.

There he reviewed an honour guard of UN troops on the lawn of the white-walled UN compound.

After about two-and-a-half hours, Mr Annan set off on an airborne tour of some of the areas in southern Lebanon most heavily bombarded by Israel during the 34-day conflict.

After visiting Israel, Mr Annan will travel on to Iran and Syria, countries with close links to Hezbollah.

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Guilty of DWC — Woman teaching her dog how to drive

Who could have expected it? Car crashes when woman lets dog take wheel

AP BEIJING - You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

A woman in Hohhot, the capital of north China's Inner Mongolia region, crashed her car while giving her dog a driving lesson, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday.

No injuries were reported, although the vehicles involved were slightly damaged, it said.
The woman, identified only be her surname, Li, said her dog "was fond of crouching on the steering wheel and often watched her drive," according to Xinhua.

"She thought she would let the dog 'have a try' while she operated the accelerator and brake," the report said. "They did not make it far before crashing into an oncoming car."

Xinhua did not say what kind of dog or vehicles were involved, but Li paid for repairs.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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US Calls Iranian Nuclear Defiance Disappointing






The United States said Monday Iran's apparent intention to defy the U.N. Security Council on its nuclear program is disappointing, and that it expects the world community to follow through with sanctions against Tehran. The Security Council's deadline for Iran to stop reprocessing uranium and return to negotiations over its nuclear program is Thursday.

Officials here appear to be holding out no hope that Iran will reconsider its defiance of the Security Council before the deadline, and they say consultations on how the international community will respond are already under way.

Major world powers offered Iran a package of economic and political incentives in June for it to end uranium enrichment and other sensitive activities and return to negotiations about its nuclear intentions.

That offer was backed up by a Security Council resolution last month giving it until August 31 to respond positively or face sanctions.

Iran said last week it was prepared to have serious talks on the issue but would not suspend enrichment which it contends is a sovereign right.

In talk with reporters here, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said it is disappointing that Iran has chosen the path of defiance not only of the Security Council but also the five permanent council member countries and Germany who presented the so-called carrots and sticks offer to Tehran nearly three months ago.

Sean McCormack
Sean McCormack
McCormack said that Iran is being asked for nothing more than the good-faith gesture of suspending enrichment as the price of admission to further negotiations:

"Let's be clear what is being asked of them by the international community," said Sean McCormack. "It is only to suspend their enrichment and reprocessing related activities in exchange for the beginning of negotiations and the suspension of activity and action in the Security Council. So that's what's being asked of them. Not to provide a final answer to the package that has been laid before them, which is a very attractive proposal. But only to begin negotiations."

McCormack said the demand that Iran stop enrichment is only reasonable, and that without such a commitment it could indefinitely drag out negotiations while continuing what U.S. officials believe is a covert nuclear weapons program.

The spokesman said U.S. concerns about Iran's intentions were only increased by its announcement Saturday it is opening a heavy-water reactor, which he said could be used to develop a plutonium-based nuclear weapon in addition to the uranium weapons project it is suspected of having.

Under questioning, the spokesman downplayed reported Russian reluctance to support U.N. sanctions against Iran, saying the United States expects all Security Council members to live up to what they agreed to in last month's resolution.

But he also said the United States and like-minded countries will be free to impose financial sanctions against Iran outside the U.N. framework and that active conversations on that track have been under way for some time.

He provided no specifics but suggested that Iran's economy - almost entirely based on oil exports - might be especially vulnerable to trade curbs imposed by multi-lateral and private financial institutions.

On another matter, McCormack confirmed that the Bush administration has decided to grant a U.S. visa to former Iranian President Mohamad Khatami, who has been invited to speak next month at a multi-faith seminar at Washington's National Cathedral.

Khatami, considered a moderate among Iranian religious leaders, had been an advocate of dialogue with the United States during his term in office which ended last year.

He would be the most senior Iranian figure to visit Washington since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran that led to the break in bilateral ties that continues today.

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