Making Use of New Opportunities

Iran and the U.S. are getting closer. U.S. President Barack Obama spoke on the phone to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani; the foreign ministers talked together for half an hour, but, still, both sides must work on building trust.

The appearance of the Iranian president and his foreign minister in New York will certainly make history. For 33 years, there has been no official contact between Iran and the U.S.

The fact that the foreign ministers talked for half an hour shows that diplomacy is taking advantage of the opportunity it has long deserved. The settlement of the nuclear conflict depends on this bilateral relationship. Everything else is secondary.

It did not go as far as an informal meeting between President Obama and Rouhani. The precondition for the meeting of the foreign ministers was that both presidents be the current acting presidents.

A Realistic Goal

Rouhani is far from his predecessor’s scale of provocative rhetoric, as is Obama, who is detached from the “Axis of Evil” militancy that characterized his predecessor’s tenure. But groups of political movements, representing the old and confrontational, are breathing down their necks.

The Iranian side estimated a year for the settlement of the nuclear issue. This is realistic, as long as both overcome their consternation: The U.S. and its partners must acknowledge Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology. Iran’s decision-makers need to understand that not only the people who support Bush and Cheney can exercise power in the U.S. Building trust lies ahead of comprehension, which needs consistent work from now on.