Iran's Rouhani May Meet Obama At UN After American President Reaches Out

[Purveyor]

An exchange of letters between Barack Obama and the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, has set the stage for a possible meeting between the two men at the UN next week in what would be the first face-to-face encounter between a US and Iranian leader since Iran's 1979 revolution.

Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, is also due to meet his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, at the UN general assembly meeting in New York, adding to guarded optimism that the June election of Rouhani, a Glasgow-educated moderate, and his appointment of a largely pragmatic cabinet, has opened the door to a diplomatic solution to the 11-year international standoff over Iran's nuclear programme.

Tehran took the Foreign Office by surprise, tweeting on Rouhani's English-language feed that the president would also be prepared to meet Hague, something the UK had not even requested.

"Tehran has responded positively to UK's request. President Rouhani's meeting w/WilliamJHague on the sidelines of UNGA has been confirmed," the tweet said.

"We would be happy to meet," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said, "but we have had nothing formal from Tehran about it."

Diplomats said that the tweet reflected the new Iranian government's eagerness to make diplomatic headway on the nuclear issue, which has been at an impasse for several years. A Hague meeting with either Rouhani or Zarif could clear the way to restoring full diplomatic ties, which have not existed since the British embassy in Tehran was ransacked by a mob in November 2011.

MORE...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/15/obama-rouhani-united-nations-meeting

[MADem]

1. I do think this is why the Guardians funneled him onto the ballot and into that job....

He's probably the one person in the world who can bridge both sides of the divide.

Rouhani has a good personality, speaks in reasonable tones, and he's rather avuncular. He is no Amadi nejad, who used to talk like a crazy man and was divisive in the extreme.

The Iranian economy needs a little normalization in a big way.

[Cha]

2. I've been reading about him being reasonable..

didn't know he had a good personality, though.

[delrem]

3. Hopefully Pres. Obama stands back from his "american exceptionalism" stance.

At least somewhat.
Perhaps Pres. Obama might remember the CIA coup over Iranian democracy that imposed the "Shaw of Iran", that parasite -- and not suppose such a, let's say it, obnoxious moral superiority.