WASHINGTON (courant.com) - Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, complaining about ""increasingly bellicose statements by United States officials"" about Iran, urged President Bush in a personal letter Monday to name a special envoy to talk to that nation's leaders.

""To date, there has been a total absence of any serious U.S. diplomatic efforts…,"" said Dodd, D-Conn., the second-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - and a candidate for his party's 2008 presidential nomination.
The White House earlier this year began talks with Iranian officials, the first direct contact between the two countries in 27 years