For the first time since the Iranian revolution in 1979, a U.S. president and an Iranian president had direct communications. It happened today with a phone call between President Obama and President Rouhani, which the U.S. leader announced this afternoon.
“The two of us discussed our ongoing efforts to reach an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program. I reiterated to President Rouhani what I said in New York: while there will surely be important obstacles to moving forward, and success is by no means guaranteed, I believe we can reach a comprehensive solution. […]
“I’ve directed Secretary Kerry to continue pursuing this diplomatic effort with the Iranian government and we had constructive discussions yesterday in New York with our partners — the European Union, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China together with the Iranian foreign minister.”
Obama noted how difficult diplomatic progress is likely to be going forward, and acknowledged “the deep mistrust between our countries,” but nevertheless said progress is possible.
I hope the political world can appreciate just how remarkable this turn of events really is. A decade ago, U.S. foreign policy declared Iran part of an “axis of evil” and tensions between the nations escalated to dangerous levels. Now we’re seeing diplomatic breakthroughs and there’s a credible possibility of resolving the Iranian nuclear dispute.
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