Resumption of US-Iran dialogue to be included in history texbooks, experts say

The resumption of dialogue between the United States and Iran last week immediately drew the attention of political analysts all over the world. The prospects of US-Iranian relations were discussed today by the head of the Centre for Modern Iranian Studies, Radzhab Safarov, member of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Boris Dolgov, and the head of the Centre of Social and Political Research, Vladimir Yevseyev.

"The events unfolding in the world are truly remarkable," Safarov said. "Many people don't understand how great they are. Western politicians were not ready for such changes. They expected some new approach from Rouhani, but they did not believe that these changes would be so profound. Israel is in panic, Saudi Arabia is shocked. All traditional patterns have been broken."

According to Safarov, the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Aytollah Ali Khamenei allowed President Rouhani to hold talks with Western powers and to discuss all the vital issues. Rouhani appointed liberal politicians as negotiators, these people know how to talk to Western colleagues, the expert says.

The culmination of Rouhani's visit to New York, where he took part in the session of the UN General Assembly, was President Obama's phone call. This event will be included in history textbooks , the expert believes.

His approach is shared by Vladimir Yevseyev. According to Yevseyev, these events are indeed great. "For the first time in 34 years a meeting of a Secretary of State and an Iranian Foreign Minister was held. The successful talks with the 5+1 group led to the phone conversation between the two presidents," he said.

He underlined, however, that Rouhani's speech at the United Nations was rather moderate and that a lot of people in Iran do not support Rouhani's course.

Boris Dolgov agrees that one shouldn't expect a normalization of bilateral relations in the near future. The Syrian crisis still remains a sticking point, the expert explains.