The presidency of moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani has opened a window of opportunity in Iran\’s delicate nuclear diplomacy with the West but Tehran-watchers say that window could close as each side waits for the other to make the first move.
According to Jewish tradition, prophecy cased with the end of the Biblical era, , but it doesn’t take a prophet to predict that Israel will not be attacking Iranian nuclear installations, at least not for a while.
The window for Iran to resolve its differences with the West through diplomacy is shrinking, President Obama said.
Iran\’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, welcomed President Obama\’s emphasis on diplomacy to resolve tensions over the Islamic Republic\’s nuclear program.
News on the Iran front is getting more and more complicated. I am not referring to the situation at Iran\’s nuclear facilities but to the one here in Washington, where Congress, deep into election-year fundraising and thinking about the March AIPAC policy conference, is crafting yet another sanctions bill.
All options are on the table for Iran, but a diplomatic solution to the impasse over its nuclear weapons program is still a possibility, President Obama said in his State of the Union speech.
Why should any supporter of an embattled Israel want to risk the future of the Jewish State on a president known for the temperamental, quixotic and unpredictable whims that guide his decision making?
I was with Obama in Israel and in Europe, and I saw how he focused on the urgency of the Iranian threat. I saw how he used his discussions in Israel to remind the European leaders that Israelis are justified in seeing Iran with nuclear weapons as an existential threat — and that for Israel\’s sake and our own we must put far more pressure on Iran if we are to stop it from going nuclear.
Tom Lantos, chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, made headlines last April when he reiterated his desire to travel to Iran for informal talks with Iranian officials. And yet one month later the Democratic congressman from San Mateo introduced a tough Iran divestment bill with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) that the House overwhelmingly passed last week.\n
President George W. Bush kicked off the week by reaffirming his vision of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it was widely seen as an attempt to divert attention from his debacle in Iraq rather than a commitment to sustained diplomacy.
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