The recent exchange of prisoners between Iran and the United States has convinced some observers there is still hope for Tehran-Washington dialogue, but the road seems to be pretty bumpy.
In 2013, newly elected President Hassan Rouhani rose to power as he promised Iranians to put an end to US-Iran tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. His chief negotiator, Mohammad Javad Zarif, had the political system’s permission to negotiate with the United States, but no authority had been granted to Rouhani to talk with then US President Barack Obama on the phone — a 20-minute conversation described by Rouhani as “a very powerful locomotive for the negotiation train.” What led Rouhani to make this courageous decision while knowing he would face a hard time at home was his confidence that the Iranian public and most of the political groups were fully behind him, resulting in the establishment not being able to oppose Rouhani since the cost of such an approach against him had risen steeply.
