Hint: If Hillary’s Involved With Negotiations, They’ve Started Already
Hint: If Hillary’s Involved With Negotiations, They’ve Started Already
A bizarre little October Surprise just happened-and then un-happened.
The NYT released a blockbuster story-bylined by current White House and former diplomatic correspondents Helene Cooper and Mark Landler, with a “David Sanger contributed reporting” hidden at the bottom-claiming Iran had agreed to one-on-one negotiations to take place-at Iran’s insistence-after the election.
The United States and Iran have agreed in principle for the first time to one-on-one negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, according to Obama administration officials, setting the stage for what could be a last-ditch diplomatic effort to avert a military strike on Iran.
Iranian officials have insisted that the talks wait until after the presidential election, a senior administration official said, telling their American counterparts that they want to know with whom they would be negotiating.
Shortly after the story broke, however, all sorts of other journalists published firm denials from the White House, and the NYT story now includes this denial from Tommy Vietor.
The White House publicly denied the report on Saturday evening. “It’s not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections,” said Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman. He added, however, that the administration was open to such talks, and has “said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally.”
But note the grammar of the denial: It’s not true that the US and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks after the American elections.
The whole sentence is modified by “after the American elections.” Leaving open the possibility that Iran has agreed to one-on-one negotiations, end of sentence.
And there are hints in the article that that’s what’s going on. First of all, note who’s involved in this.
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