Rice says plan for US diplomats in Iran shelved

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that a decision whether to send US diplomats to Iran for the first time in three decades will be left to President-elect Barack Obama's administration. She said setting up a diplomatic outpost, or interest section, in Iran remains viable, but it is now too late for President George W. Bush's foreign policy team to move ahead with the plan that was floated at midyear. "At this late moment, I think it is probably better that this decision be left to the next administration," Rice told reporters at a State Department news conference.