Well I'll be dern -- President Bush has authorized the most significant U.S. diplomatic contact with Iran since the Islamic Revolution. -- SEE UPDATE

From The New York Times:

President Bush has authorized the most significant American diplomatic contact with Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, sending the State Department’s third-ranking official to Geneva for a meeting this weekend on Iran’s nuclear program, administration officials said Tuesday.

The decision appeared to bend, if not exactly break, the administration’s insistence that it would not negotiate with Iran over its nuclear programs unless it first suspended uranium enrichment, as demanded by three resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

Still, after months of accusations and counteraccusations from the United States and Iran, the meeting raised the prospect of an intensified diplomatic push to resolve concerns over Iranian nuclear activity, not unlike the lengthy and painstaking talks that resulted in a deal last month with North Korea.
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UPDATE: I heard tonight on the evening news that John Bolton said the Bush administration meeting with Iran "is like the Obama administration coming six months early."

We recall that is Bolton served in several Republican presidential administrations and also served as the interim Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations on a recess appointment, and resigned when his recess appointment would have ended.

I think it is safe to conclude that Mr. Bolton was not happy about Mr. Bush's change in what he has said forever and a day. But I am all for it; like North Korea where he finally changed what he had said for a long time, it might work.