Was it recent or this one in 2002?
VOICE: With an astute sense of timing, Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright has chosen the start of the
Iranian new year to signal Iran that the United States
is willing to move toward "a more normal and mutually
productive relationship. As a first step, [Secretary]
Albright offered to remove two minor irritants in U-S
- Iran relations - a ban on imports of Iranian
carpets, pistachios, caviar and dried fruit, and the
removal of cumbersome visa requirements for Iranian
academics, athletes and professionals visiting the
United States. .... But the most important part of
her overture, as it will be received in Iran, was her
forthright admission that the United States had
meddled in Iranian affairs to the detriment of the
Iranian people. The Iranians have long sought some
official public confession, or at least
acknowledgment, of this history as they see it. The
U-S-backed overthrow of a popular Prime Minister,
Mohammed Mossadegh, was "clearly a setback for Iran's
political development," [Mrs.] Albright said. For 25
years,the United States backed the increasingly brutal
and repressive government of the shah. ... The
Iranian government remains deeply divided, with hard-
liners still in control of the military and security
apparatus. That area is where our remaining
disagreements with Iran - support of terrorism,
attempts to derail the Mideast peace process, and
efforts to develop nuclear weapons - have their
roots. But clearly the moderates and reformers are
ascending in Iran. [Mrs.] Albright's gesture may
hasten that process.
http://www.fas.org/news/iran/2000/000321-iran1.htm
Boy, has that statement ever been proven wrong!