America Labels Iran, Hezbollah A ‘Global Nexus of Terrorism'

WASHINGTON — America kept up its verbal onslaught on Iran and Hezbollah over the weekend, describing the two as a "dangerous, global nexus of terrorism," but behind the scenes, the Bush administration is thought to be looking for ways to re-establish a relationship with Tehran.

President Bush meets the Iraq Study Group today during the first of three days of deliberations during which the panel will also hear from Vice President Cheney and, via videolink, Prime Minister Blair of Britain. Among the items on the agenda is the case for enlisting Iran and Syria to help corral the violence in Iraq.

The ISG's chairman and the former secretary of state, James Baker, recently had a three-hour dinner with the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations to discuss ways in which Iran could help stabilize Iraq.

Though Mr. Baker was not speaking for the administration, the dinner indicates a new pragmatism in Washington that is prepared to question many of the principles that have underpinned the Bush administration's foreign policy since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The White House said it would consider engaging Iran if that was what Mr. Bakers' commission recommended.

"Nobody can be happy with the situation in Iraq right now. Everybody's been working hard, but what we've been doing has not worked well enough or fast enough," the White House chief of Staff, Josh Bolten, told ABC News's "This Week." "So it's clearly time to put fresh eyes on the problem. The president has always been interested in tactical adjustments. But the ultimate goal remains the same, which is success in Iraq."

The Bush administration "has always been ready to make a course adjustment" if it proved necessary, he said.

Mr. Bush's nominee to succeed Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, Robert Gates, also supports talking to Tehran.

He argued in 2004 that: "Engagement could encourage Iran to adopt a more clear, positive attitude toward the new governments in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and it could also create opportunities for greater interaction between Iranians and the rest of the world." Mr. Gates also advocates a renewed emphasis upon the Middle East peace negotiation. A Council on Foreign Relations report he co-wrote two years ago, said, "These efforts will help marginalize the destabilizing forces that Iranian hard-liners continue to support."

Yesterday, Prime Minister Olmert of Israel arrived in Washington for a five-day visit with Tehran's nuclear program as one of the main issues on the agenda.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the president's spokesman, Tony Snow, celebrated efforts by an Argentinian judge to arrest Iranian officials thought to have been involved in a 1994 terrorist attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.