Iran Doesn't Want to Get Right w/World

Most of the headlines generated by President Obama’s interview with NPR this week focused on his threat to veto bills passed by the new Republican Congress. But the president’s comments about Iran in the same piece deserve just as much scrutiny. When asked if he was considering opening an embassy in Tehran as he is planning to do in Havana, the president spoke of his commitment to engagement and diplomacy with Iran and of giving it an opportunity to “get right with the world” and become “a very successful regional power.” Anyone seeking to understand why Iran has been able to force the West to back down from its original positions in the talks making it likely that any deal will allow it to become a threshold nuclear power need only listen to Obama’s hopes. In speaking in this manner, once again the president demonstrated why he is Tehran’s best diplomatic asset.