Obama Says He And Iran's Rowhani Have Exchanged Letters

[Purveyor]

Source: NPR

In the weeks since Iran's President Hasan Rowhani was elected this summer, he and President Obama have swapped letters, Obama says. The U.S. president discussed the exchange for the first time publicly in an interview with George Stephanopoulos that aired on ABC's This Week Sunday.

The interview was conducted Friday, before U.S. and Russian diplomats hammered out a deal to rid Syria of its chemical weapons arsenal. But the question arose of what message other countries might infer from the U.S. pursuit of a diplomatic rather than a military solution to the Syrian dilemma — particularly in Iran, which is pursuing a nuclear program against U.S. wishes.

Asked if he had reached out personally to Iran's president, Obama answered, "I have. And he's reached out to me. We haven't spoken directly ..." At this point, Stephanopolous asked if he meant they'd exchanged letters, and Obama said yes.

But the president didn't predict a rosy future of easy dealings with Iran as a result of its new leader, who is seen as more moderate than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.



Read more: http://wlrn.org/post/obama-says-he-and-irans-rowhani-have-exchanged-letters

[cheapdate]

1. I think it's good for the president to exchange letters with Iran's figurehead president.

[TomClash]

2. Good

Talk is better than war for defense contractors, oil interest, the Saudis and Israel.

[another_liberal]

5. The price of gasoline has fallen thirty cents a gallon . . .

Where I live the price of gasoline has fallen thirty cents a gallon since President Obama told Congress to hold off on their war vote. That is a huge boost to the consumer and to businesses alike.

[TomClash]

8. Energy and manufacturing gains

Are one of the untold successes of he Obama Administration, particularly given the restraints on policy.

[daleo]

3. Better jaw, jaw jaw

Than war, war, war.

Churchill said that, so even conservatives can concede the point occasionally.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. "I'll give you two 'E's for a 'C' and an 'A'

"How about one 'E' and a 'D' for an 'A' and a 'P'?"

"Deal!"

See? that wasn't so hard.

[iandhr]

6. I guess the President is trying to see if Rowhani is serious.

But I guess it doesn't matter since Ayatollah is really the person who runs things.

[Lobo27]

7. The right's response.

Obama is talking to his muslim friends. Selling our freedom away. THE DOWNFALL OF AMERICA.... something like that.

[Orsino]

9. They should start up an actual game of chess, just to fuck with DU. n/t

[Nihil]

10. 12 dimensional Scrabble?

[dipsydoodle]

11. UPDATE : Obama tells Rouhani he sees a way to resolve nuclear issue - White House

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama has told Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in an exchange of letters that the United States is ready to resolve its nuclear dispute with Iran in a way that allows Tehran to show it is not trying to build weapons, the White House said on Wednesday.

"In his letter the president indicated that the U.S. is ready to resolve the nuclear issue in a way that allows Iran to demonstrate that its nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

"The letter also conveyed the need to act with a sense of urgency to address this issue because, as we have long said, the window of opportunity for resolving this diplomatically is open, but it will not remain open indefinitely," Carney said.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/09/18/uk-usa-iran-whitehouse-idUKBRE98H0U220130918