To tell the full story of the Spring 2003 dance that Iran, the U.S., and Europe briefly engaged in regarding a set of proposals -- allegedly from both sides that would have led to normalizing US-Iran relations -- one has to set the parameters of both stage and performers in this drama.

I plan to write this story in pieces, as there are parts of it that are still incomplete -- and some parts still unknown. I will then tie these pieces together.

As I offer these pieces on this interesting proposal, I look forward to any "privately sent" communications that can help me focus, retool, or amend the story, the stage and players as I see them coming together.

My email is steve@thewashingtonnote.com -- and all confidences will be completely maintained and protected.

Here are the relevant actors as I currently see them:

Tim Guldimann -- Former Swiss Ambassador to Iran and currently Professor of International Relations at the University of Frankfurt; Co-Author of the Report on the Nuclear Impasse in Iran (International Crisis Group)

Sadeq Kharrazi -- Former Iran Ambassador to France; Nephew of Former Iran Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and brother-in-law to the son of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Javad Zarif -- Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations

Kamal Kharrazi -- Former Foreign Minister of Iran; stepped down August 24, 2005

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- Supreme Leader of Iran

An Undisclosed U.S. Businessman -- a person in some accounts of this story who has not yet been revealed

Flynt Leverett -- Former Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council; Former Middle East specialst at the CIA and Department of State; currently Senior Fellow and Director, Geopolitics of Energy Initiative, New America Foundation

Lawrence Wilkerson -- Former Chief of Staff, Department of State; currently a visiting professor at the College of William & Mary

Colin Powell: Former Secretary of State of the United States

Richard Haass -- Former Director of Policy Planning, Department of State; currently President of the Council on Foreign Relations

Richard Armitage - Former Deputy Secretary of State

William J. Burns -- former Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs; currently US Ambassador to Russia

Bob Ney -- Former Congressman from Ohio's 18th District (R-OH); resigned in November 2006 and now serving prison sentence after being found guilty of corruption; was only Farsi-speaking member of Congress when he served

Trita Parsi -- Former aide to Congressman Bob Ney; now President of the National Iranian American Council and author of the forthcoming Treacherous Triangle: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States

Richard Cheney -- Vice President of the United States

George Bush -- President of the United States

Condoleezza Rice -- Former National Security Advisor to the President and now Secretary of State

Elliot Abrams -- Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy

Karl Rove -- Former Senior Adviser to President George W. Bush and now Deputy Chief of Staff to the President

Stephen Hadley -- Former Deputy National Security Advisor to the President; now holds the office of National Security Advisor

Ryan Crocker -- Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs; then Ambassador of the US to Pakistan; now nominated to serve as US Ambassador to Iraq

James Dobbins -- Former Special Envoy for Afghanistan; Organizer of the Bonn Conference; now Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND Corporation

Zalmay Khalilzad -- Former Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan; Former US Ambassador to Iraq; nominated to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations

Hillary Mann -- Former career foreign service officer in the State Department focusing on the Middle East and Persian Gulf regions

Jillian Burns -- Career foreign service officer previously working in the Department of State's Bureau of Near East Affairs; now serving in US Consulate in Dubai

Philo Dibble -- Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs; currently Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Organization Affairs

John Bolton -- Former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security; former US Ambassador to the United Nations; now Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

If there are more who should be added to this list, let me know who -- and why.

More later.

-- Steve Clemons