Conferences & Meetings

Described by Time magazine as "a dramatic meeting ... and a powerful symbol of reconciliation", this encounter took place in July '98 at the headquarters of UNESCO in Paris. In November 1979 Barry Rosen was working as the press attaché at the United States embassy in Tehran. Abbas Abdi was one of three student leaders who organised the takeover of the embassy.

The event contributed more than any other to the mutual fear and mistrust that have dogged subsequent relations between the United States and Iran and has determined the pattern of relations between the two countries to this day. The public meeting in Paris organised by the Centre for World Dialogue gave both men their first opportunity to face one another again in calmer circumstances, to express their views on the political and personal significance of the US embassy hostage crisis, and to discuss the future direction of relations between their two countries. The meeting ended with both men agreeing on the importance of putting the past behind them and looking to the future.