The Washington Post is reporting Iran has followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent letter to President Bush with new overtures for direct negotiations. According to the Post, the White House has ignored these requests, despite the conclusion of intelligence experts that Ahmadinejad’s letter was a major overture. Several anonymous officials said the Bush administration is coming under pressure from government experts to respond to Iran’s letter. Paul Pillar, who served as the senior Middle East intelligence analyst with the CIA until last year, said: “There is no question in my mind that there has been for some time a desire on the part of the senior Iranian leadership to engage in a dialogue with the United States.”