Nearly three months after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent then-President-elect Obama a congratulatory note, the State Department is still working on a response. Snail mail, indeed. The Guardian reports that the letter will be “aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks.”

Apparently there are three drafts of the letter, which could either be sent to the Iranian people, Iran’s supreme leader or no one in particular. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is said to be reviewing the document.

The Guardian via Political Wire:

Officials of Barack Obama’s administration have drafted a letter to Iran from the president aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks, the Guardian has learned.

The US state department has been working on drafts of the letter since Obama was elected on 4 November last year. It is in reply to a lengthy letter of congratulations sent by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on 6 November.

Diplomats said Obama’s letter would be a symbolic gesture to mark a change in tone from the hostile one adopted by the Bush administration, which portrayed Iran as part of an “axis of evil”.

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#barack obama#clinton#diplomacy#george w bush#guardian#iran#mahmoud ahmadinejad#state department