It was the phone call heard around the word, president Barack Obama of the United States gave a call to Hassan Rouhani, the newly elected Iranian president. It's the first time in 34 years that both head of states of those two country have spoken directly to each other. The Obama administration is obviously trying to work some diplomacy as John Kerry was busy meeting with the Iranian foreign minister Javad Zariv in New York today and more talk scheduled in early October in Geneva. For the United States the idea is to make Iran stop making nuclear weapons and for Iran to get those severe economical sanctions lifted.
Hassan Rouhani ran on a very moderate platform and won hugely, even against Jalili (Ahmadinejad previous nuclear negotiator) who seemed to be backed by the Ayatollah. His platform sounds reasonable, attractive to both the extreme liberal in Iran and the moderate conservatives. I should be more excited about this, but really Rouhani is just a smoking screen, the ultimate power concerning matters of nuclear power is Khamenei and I don't believe his stance have changed. Him and the Revolutionary guard are very conservative and anti american that no progress will really be made. Talking to Rouhani while a good thing, is giving legitimacy to the whole Iranian establishment and establishment that isn't too keen on chance.
However, the president and John Kerry might have more tangible proof that maybe Rouhani has the authority to make some changes. Ahmadinejad always seemed like a Khamenei puppet to me, and I really expect no less of Rouhani despite his talks of change. So Good look to Obama and Kerry, I will be observing this process with skeptical eyes.
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