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Is Biden’s reset on Iran paying off? 

Republicans say no; four benchmark dates to watch.

President Joe Biden speaks at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Aug. 10, 2023 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
President Joe Biden speaks at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug. 10, 2023. — George Frey/Getty Images

Signs of pragmatism in long-troubled relationship 

The Biden administration’s approach to Iran reflects a hard-headed realism necessary for the managed-not-solved nature of the Iranian challenge

And it may be working. 

Five Americans unjustly detained in Iran are expected to be released within weeks. There are reports that Iran is keeping its uranium enrichment below 60%, a red line for weaponization, and Iran has so far refrained from providing ballistic missiles to Russia. An understanding, if not an "agreement," seems to be taking shape, in which Iran would adhere to constraints on its nuclear program under IAEA supervision, while setting new mechanisms for de-escalation. The United States did not oppose a China-brokered agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Iranian-Saudi relations are "on the right track" during a visit to Riyadh this week where he met his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. 

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