Iran: Who Is Responsible for Rohani’s Diplomatic Offensive?
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iran-who-responsible-rohanis-diplomatic-offensive
Perhaps the most superficial analysis of the positive turn that US-Iranian relations have taken says that the “oppressed” Iranian people threw off the yolk of the conservatives and voted a moderate, reformist into office who is willing to deal with Washington.
In fact, well before President Hassan Rouhani decided to run for elections, in a 21 March 2013 speech, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei began to draw the outlines of a more flexible stance on his country’s nuclear program. Khamenei called this new approach “revolutionary flexibility” or “heroic flexibility,” saying that “flexibility is useful – and sometimes necessary.”
In the course of his speech, the supreme leader expressed the Islamic Republic’s willingness to place the country’s nuclear activities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in return for recognizing Iran’s right to enrich uranium and carry on with its peaceful nuclear program.