Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker
#4. Iran-U.S. Diplomacy
May 28: Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Iraq, meets his Iranian counterpart in the first public high-level talks between the two countries in almost 30 years. The talks, followed up by a second session in July, come at the behest of the Iraqi government, but tensions remain high as the U.S. accuses Iran of directly fomenting violence in Iraq, while Iran demands the release of Iranian personnel detained by U.S. forces.