Dennis Ross, Iran envoy

Posted By Laura Rozen Monday, January 26, 2009 - 2:20 PM Share

He wasn't unveiled at the Obama/Biden/Hillary Clinton envoy roll-out event at Foggy Bottom last week, but State Department sources tell The Cable that former Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross has indeed been tapped as the U.S. envoy to Iran, with the possible title "ambassador at large."

Ross, who did not respond to a query, laid out his recommendations for "how to stop Iran from getting nukes," in this November 2008 Newsweek piece.

UPDATE: A former State Department official heard but can't confirm that Ross may get the title of "counselor" at State, "and then could do anything the Secretary wanted him to do."

EXPLORE:IRAN, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

(2)

HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE

HASS

3:41 PM ET

January 26, 2009

Ross is foisting his own agenda

Note the built-in assumptions by Ross that Iran is "out to get nukes" and so "must be stopped" or else Iran will "go nuclear" -- despite the utter absence of any evidence to support that. Ross is framing the issue in the same way as the Bush administration, which inevitably leads to the same policy approaches of confrontation.

DEVILANDDEVELOPMENT

2:08 AM ET

February 18, 2009

Ross and Statecraft

This is a good time to go back and read Ross's 2007 book, Statecraft. I posted an excerpt today on devilanddevelopment.blogspot.com.