Taking the Shot

Zeitgeist, the once in a life time opportunity given to us all to do something significant, might be happening with Iran and the US regarding Iran's nuclear program given the quiet dialog via letters that's been going on between Obama and Iran's newly elect president Hassan Rouhani.

TEHRAN — Iran’s leaders, seizing on perceived flexibility in a private letter from President Obama, have decided to gamble on forging a swift agreement over their nuclear program with the goal of ending crippling sanctions, a prominent adviser to the Iranian leadership said Thursday.

The Iranian leadership was encouraged by what was described as Mr. Obama’s offer to conduct face-to-face talks, which they prefer to the more bureaucratic and lengthy negotiating process with a group of five major world powers, Mr. Mohebbian said.

The one-and-a-half-page letter, which the Iranian president answered with a letter of similar length, has kindled hopes that the international charm offensive Iran began after Mr. Rouhani’s election in June may produce a genuine diplomatic breakthrough. But the differing interpretations of Mr. Obama’s letter in Tehran and Washington are a reminder of the political hurdles and the legacy of mistrust that both sides will have to overcome in negotiating a deal.

One can only hope given just how catastrophic a war with Iran would be.

Click here to view the NYTimes interactive timeline of Iran's Nuclear program, interesting to say the least. Maybe this is give back for the CIA's action against Mohammad Mossadegh back in 1953.

Addendum: Read the reason why Iran wants to move ahead here. Heartfelt and nuanced, Hassan Rouhani's message should be read by everyone who is concerned about the troubled Iran/US relationship.  

Addendum 2: WASHINGTON — President Obama spoke by telephone with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran on Friday afternoon, the first direct conversation between leaders of the two estranged countries since the rupture of the Tehran hostage crisis more than three decades ago.

Mr. Obama called the discussion an important breakthrough after a generation of deep mistrust and suggested that it could serve as the starting point to an eventual deal on Iran’s nuclear program and a broader renewal of relations between two countries that once were close allies.