US official held secret talks with Iran

A US official secretly met Iranian banking officials and senior government aides who oppose punishing the Islamic nation for not doing enough to stop money laundering and terrorism funding, it was reported tonight.

The talks took place last month in Paris despite the Bush administration’s near-absolute ban on formal US-Iran contact.

The United States co-chaired the meeting with Italy and was represented by Daniel Glaser, the Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, a senior US official said.

Representatives of several other nations also attended.

The meeting was part of the Bush administration’s attempts to ramp up international pressure on Iran to halt atomic activities that could lead to the development of nuclear weapons.