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Letter: Ping-Pong may be secret weapon in diplomatic thawing of U.S.-Iran relations

Friday, Jan. 16, 1998 | 9:40 a.m.

The editorial was a comment on Iranian leader Mohamed Khatami's plea for a thaw in Iranian-American relationships. The editorial pointed out that Ping-Pong diplomacy and cultural exchanges had led to a thaw in Chinese-American relationships and that such practice might lead to the U.S. getting along better with Iran.

During World War II, I was a GI stationed with a special services unit of the U.S. Army in Tehran, and I saw a form of Ping-Pong diplomacy practiced. Our unit had a sergeant who was an adept Ping-Pong player. Every morning he was assigned to play Ping-Pong with the young shah, who, too, was a skilled Ping-Pong player. After the war, that young shah and the U.S. had a good relationship until he was overthrown by his own people. Since then the relationship has been icy cold.

Maybe the above-mentioned headline points the way to improvement by the tiny Ping-Pong ball.

Orville Goplen

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