Many people were hopeful that President Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would meet at the United Nations General Assembly this week. That didn’t happen, but something no less momentous did: they talked on the phone. That may sound trivial, but it’s the first time the Presidents of the two countries have spoken since 1979. And coupled with the conversation that Secretary of State John Kerry had on Thursday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, it forms part of what George Packer calls, on this week’s Political Scene podcast, “one of those elaborate diplomatic minuets that is going to lead to nuclear negotiations in Geneva.”
The historic talks between the countries are, in large part, about Iran’s nuclear capabilities. But they’re also about Iran’s involvement in Syria’s civil war. Dexter Filkins, also on the podcast, says that avoiding more chaos in Syria “is the starting point for any kind of larger agreement that we can strike with Iran.”
For more on the relationship between Iran and Syria, read Filkins’s piece in this week’s magazine, “The Shadow Commander.”
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Photograph by Pete Souza/Official White House Photo.
