US facilitator of back-door contacts with Iran to quit

Undersecretary of State William J. Burns has announced that he will resign in seven months. DEBKAfile: Burns headed a secret headquarters in Muscat, capital of Oman, which conductged the direct back-channel exchanges between the Obama administration and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, which led up to the US-Iran détente and nuclear diplomacy.