Who Stopped the Talks?

"....However, the picture may be more complicated. Readers will recall that, in Basra, Iran intervened to de-escalate the conflict (not because they're nice, but because they sought to avoid an all-out intra-Shia civil war in the south). When violence spilled over into Baghdad, however, the Iranians seemed content to keep backing Shia militants in an attempt to bloody American noses.

But Dr. iRack has heard credible RUMINT that Iran also offered to initiate talks to help end the fighting in Sadr City in the context of wider discussions on the full range of U.S.-Iranian disputes--that is, the kind of sweeping diplomatic engagement many Iran analysts now recommend--but the United States rejected the overture. Scattered news reports seem to corroborate this RUMINT. According to a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor ..."