(Host) Senator Patrick Leahy says he's hopeful that U.S. diplomatic relations with Iran may be changing for the better.

Leahy says a decision by the Bush administration to send an official representative to Switzerland this weekend to discuss Iran's nuclear program is definitely a step in the right direction.

Going to war with Iran, according to Leahy, would be a tragic mistake.

VPR's Bob Kinzel reports:

(Kinzel) Secretary of State Condolezza Rice is making it very clear that sending a U.S. representative to participate in an international meeting to evaluate Iran's nuclear program isn't the same as opening full diplomatic relations. But the trip does mark the first time that the Bush administration has taken part in these kinds of talks.

The United States ended its formal diplomatic relationship with Iran in the fall of 1979 when the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was occupied for 444 days.

The Bush administration has been unwilling to have any formal contact with Iran until the Iranians agree to halt the development of their nuclear program.

Speaking on VPR's Vermont Edition, Leahy said he strongly supports the administration's new approach with Iran.

(Leahy) ``Iran is a major problem. And I think part of the problem is that we have tried to isolate them instead of consider trying to negotiate with them. Negotiation does not mean capitulation, and I applaud Secretary Rice for finally changing what has been the administration's position of saying we won't talk with them unless they agree to everything we want first. Anybody's who been in negotiation knows that doesn't work."

(Kinzel) Leahy says he supports a diplomatic approach because he doesn't think the United States is prepared for military action against Iran.

(Leahy) ``I think a war would be tragic. One, we don't even have the forces to do it. We have extended ourselves so much in Iraq, in fact extended ourselves so much in Iraq, that Osama bin Laden has been able to escape in Afghanistan. I think the fact that there seems to be more willingness on the part of Europeans and others to present a unified front with Iran will do far more than saber rattling."

(Kinzel) Leahy says he hopes this weekend's meeting in Geneva will lead to larger diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran.

For VPR News I'm Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.