The rigmarole surrounding the supposed failure of negotiations with Iran is causing the media and government to lose sight of what is really important: talking with Iran. Talking is, in and of itself, a confidence building measure. It allows for the growth of familiarity between the parties, and, therefore, greater confidence that the other side will honor any agreements. At this early stage, negotiations with Iran should be viewed as means to that end.

Negotiation is the ongoing process of discussion. A failure of negotiations, as they currently exist with Iran, would only really happen when the talking stops.  What is currently happening between the U.S. and Iran is a failure to compromise–it’s frustrating, seems like a deadlock, and feels like we’re banging our head against a brick wall.  But it’s not a failure. Further rounds of talks will beget further confidence from both sides, and toward that end even the stalemate over the Vienna proposal is not necessarily a cause for alarm.

The possibility of Iran gaining nuclear weapons in the future must be dealt with in a serious matter. But there is time before Iran will be able to construct a working nuclear weapon.

Various academics, members of the Arms Control Association, former ambassadors, former American Embassy hostages and Foreign Service officers have all said that the United States has time, plenty of time in fact, before Iran develops a workable nuclear weapon, let alone a workable long-range nuclear ballistic missile. The Obama Administration should embrace the lack of a compromise over Iran’s nuclear program to move onto other issues, such as human rights abuses or securing the release of the three American hikers being held in Iran.  Each of these alternative avenues could be an opportunity for Iran to prove its good-will, and we would do well to set up as many opportunities for Iran to gain back our trust as possible.

While the deal proposed by Elbaradei, whereby Iran would ship 75% of its fissile material out of the country, has been touted as a simple confidence boosting measure, it may be that both sides shot the moon in the first round and missed. The nuclear program is such a massive issue on both sides that a compromise was unlikely on the first go round of negotiations. A confidence-building move should be something small that both sides can easily agree to as they feel each other out. It was certainly worth a try to reach an agreement right from the start. It also was definitely worth bringing to the table so that there is no illusion on either side about the other’s desires.

In any trust exercise, you start with something small first. In fact, they are often referred to as trust exercises, plural. During corporate team building exercises, people do not first fall backwards with their eyes closed. Instead, they talk and share something about themselves. Then maybe some type of game that takes place with all eyes open. It is only once a rapport has been created, indeed a level of trust that the team building moves onto the more exciting trust exercises.  Right now, the US and Iran are nowhere near the “eyes closed, falling backwards” stage in their relationship.

There are, however, smaller issues that can be resolved between the United States and Iran that are better suited to function as a confidence building exercise. Why not spin the Lazy Susan of topics and start negotiating for the release of the hikers, greater cooperation on stemming the flow of drugs out of Afghanistan, or security in Iraq?  Best of all would be to see the failure to compromise as an opening to refocus the negotiations on the egregious human rights abuses that have been taking place in Iran before and after the June election.

If the current brouhaha about the failure of negotiations proves anything, then it is that setting timelines for negotiations is a very bad idea. This is especially true if the timeline is an order of magnitude shorter than it should be. Iran will not have workable nuclear weapons for a matter of years. Why then did the United States, and the other P5+1 countries, set a timeline of three months?

U.S.-Iran negotiations have not failed. They are ongoing. The failure to reach a compromise over nuclear enrichment is neither a harbinger of the end of negotiations, nor a signal that the time has come for sanctions. Reaching an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program will not be quick, and the process has only just begun. Luckily the United States and the other P5+1 countries have time to continue to process of negotiation and confidence building.

If the United States and Iran have failed to compromise over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, then it is time to move on to other issues; not read the negotiations their last rites.

Amb. John Limbert Speaking at the NIAC Conference

Cross posted from www.niacouncil.org.

Washington, D.C. — The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) applauds the appointment of Ambassador John Limbert as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iran in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the US Department of State.

Amb. Limbert, who served on NIACs Board of Advisors up until his appointment, is a decorated career US diplomat who has previously held posts in Iraq, Mauritania and Guinea, in addition to holding several senior positions in Washington with the State Department. Amb. Limbert is currently Distinguished Professor of International Affairs at the US Naval Academy.

Amb. Limbert is one country’s foremost experts on Iranian issues. He began his career in the 1960s as a Peace Corps volunteer and an English instructor at Shiraz University. In 1979, Amb. Limbert was held hostage in the American Embassy in Tehran for fourteen months. A fluent Persian speaker, Limbert will be a vital asset to the United States throughout the continuing negotiations and conversations with the Iranian government.

“The Obama administration has declared that they want to find a new future with the people of Iran,” said Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council. “With Limbert in the State Department tasked to complete that vision, history will be completed: A person who stood at the center of US-Iran relations when they broke down 30 years ago, will lead the efforts to restore the broken ties.”

The day before getting sworn in, Amb. Limbert spoke at a conference hosted by NIAC on Capitol Hill, along with other senior US diplomats and experts on US-Iran relations. Amb. Limbert stressed the importance of patience and persistence in the ongoing negotiations, and argued that productive discussions on the fate of Iran’s nuclear program could also allow the United States to press Tehran on its human rights record.

“There are few people in the United States that know Iran as well as Amb. Limbert,” Parsi said. “He’s not only expert on Iranian foreign policy, but also on Iranian poetry, which matters a lot. I can’t think of anyone more suitable for this job.”

Amb. Limbert has frequently spoken at NIAC events and fundraisers. NIAC welcomes this appointment and wishes Amb. Limbert the best of luck in tackling the complex issues that lie ahead in finding a better future for the peoples of Iran and the US.

Cross-posted from www.niacouncil.org

The National Iranian American Council issued the following statement today, in response to Rep. Mark Kirk’s (R-IL) slanderous allegation last week that NIAC is a “regime sympathizer.”

Representative Kirk spoke last week before the US Institute of Peace, and issued his allegation against NIAC saying: “Regime-sympathizers like the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) came to Capitol Hill urging members of Congress to cut off U.S. funding for democracy programs in Iran. Democracy funding ‘taints’ Iranian dissidents, they claimed, and only invites harsher crackdowns on the Iranian people.”  He provided no explanation backing up his statement, nor did he acknowledge that the foremost leaders of Iran’s pro-democracy movement have denounced the very same Congressional “regime change fund” that Kirk has championed.

NIAC communicated with Representative Kirk’s office immediately after his statement, requesting a retraction. His office refused to respond.

The $75 million fund, a brainchild of the Bush administration’s disastrous Middle East policy, was put into place in 2006 with the aim of funding Iranian NGOs to overthrow the government of Iran. The immediate effect of the fund, however, was that the Ahmadinejad government began targeting all Iranian NGOs, accusing them of participating in a US-sponsored color revolution.

NGO leaders in Iran, who had not requested this counterproductive assistance from the US, responded by pleading with the US Congress to dissolve the fund.  Nobel Peace Prize Recipient and human rights leader Shirin Ebadi unequivocally denounced Congressional efforts–oftentimes led by Rep. Kirk–to channel funds to dissidents inside Iran, saying “Washington’s policy of ‘helping’ the cause of democracy in Iran has backfired….No truly nationalist and democratic group will accept” State Department funds, she said, because “Iranian reformists believe that democracy can’t be imported. It must be indigenous.”

Similarly, Akbar Ganji, Iran’s most famous political dissident, said “The US democracy fund was severely counterproductive. None of the human rights activists and members of opposition in Iran had any interest in using such funds, but we were all accused by Iran’s government of being American spies because a few groups in America used these funds.”

And Mehrangiz Kar, a leader of the women’s rights movement in Iran, said that the fund to help human rights organizations in Iran “will destroy these newly developed organizations like a storm.  It will transform the issue of continuation and expansion of human rights activities into one of safeguarding the security of these activists.”

NIAC has echoed the complaints of Iran’s pro-democracy leaders and sought to make US lawmakers sensitive to the demands of the foot soldiers of Iran’s pro-democracy movement. Unfortunately, Rep. Kirk has disregarded the needs and viewpoints of Iran’s pro-democracy leaders.

For someone who claims to support the Iranian people’s fight to have their voices heard, Representative Kirk has callously ignored the public statements of the leaders of the pro-democracy movement in Iran and has unfortunately chosen to pursue policies that directly endanger the pro-democracy activists he claims to support.

By accusing NIAC of sympathizing with the Iranian regime simply by opposing a program that is clearly counterproductive, the Illinois congressman is in essence labeling Akbar Ganji, Shirin Ebadi and Mehrangiz Kar – some of the Iranian government’s most ardent critics – of being sympathizers with the regime in Tehran as well.

This accusation is false, offensive and profoundly non-sensical. It reveals the disconnect between Rep. Kirk’s worldview and the viewpoints of the real pro-democracy activists on the ground in Iran.

Instead of misrepresenting and passing blame on those who actually stand with the Iranian people, Representative Kirk should issue an apology and start to listen to the people of Iran.

Similarly, NIAC has not opposed funding for Voice of America or Radio Farda. NIAC has however called for stricter quality control over their newscasts since the quality of these public funded channels had plummeted during the Bush administration.

NIAC has consistently and vehemently condemned the government of Iran’s flagrant human rights violations.  We support the Iranian people as they struggle for their most basic rights and freedoms, and we remain committed to doing so in a way that is sensitive to the actual views of the leaders of Iran’s democracy movement.

NIAC is proud to represent the majority view of the Iranian-American community, as well as the millions of Americans who wish to repair the tattered relationship that for years has threatened to ignite a disastrous war between the US and Iran.

“‘The foreign policy apparatus in Iran has frozen,” IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei has told the New York Times. ElBaradei’s comments come in light of Iran’s apparent unwillingness or even inability to accept the deal that their own diplomats negotiated with the P5+1 and the IAEA.

While the talks were successful in getting the IAEA access to Iran’s nuclear facility under construction in Qom, Iran’s government rejected the deal (verbally) on the grounds that they were not willing to trust Russia or France with the majority of their low-enriched uranium stockpile.

ElBaradei came up with a clever response, which was to find a third party country that both sides could trust that would hold the uranium – with Turkey appearing to be the most likely candidate.

However, instead of responding favorably to this deal, Iran simply responded with their own counter-proposal. It certainly plays into the narrative presented by CFR Iran expert Ray Takeyh on Friday:

In the coming months, Iran will no doubt seek to prolong negotiations by accepting and then rejecting agreed-upon compacts and offering countless counter-proposals. The United States and its allies must decide how to approach an Iranian diplomatic stratagem born out of cynical desire to clamp down on peaceful dissent with relative impunity.

International scrutiny remains trained on Iran’s nuclear program, but outside that glare, the structure and orientation of the Revolutionary Guards are changing dramatically. The regime in Tehran is establishing the infrastructure for repression. The leadership of the Guards and the paramilitary Basij force have been integrated and are much more focused on vanquishing imaginary plots by a (nonexistent) fifth column.

Takeyh then argues — as we have been — that human rights should should be elevated in the talks with Iran. Takeyh then takes it a step further:

Western officials would be smart to disabuse Iran of the notion that its nuclear infractions are the only source of disagreement. Iran’s hard-liners need to know that should they launch their much-advertised crackdown, the price for such conduct may be termination of any dialogue with the West.

Radio Free Liberty also talked to a number of reformists who argue any deal that ignores human rights will be fundamentally flawed and likely viewed with suspicion.

Reformist journalist Serajedin Mirdamadi, who campaigned for opposition leader Mir Hossein Musavi ahead of the contentious June election, tells Radio Farda that a deal with Tehran that is solely focused on the nuclear issue will not be a lasting one.

Reuters is reporting that the three Americans who crossed into Iran while hiking in Iraq are being charged with espionage.

“The three are charged with espionage. Investigations continue into the three detained Americans in Iran,” Tehran general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said.

The three were held after they strayed into Iran from northern Iraq at the end of July.

The three, Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, crossed into Iranian territory nearly two months ago. Their families say they strayed across the border accidentally.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested in an interview with the American television network NBC in September that the Americans’ release might be linked to the release of Iranian diplomats he said were being held by U.S. troops in Iraq.

Under Iran’s Islamic sharia law, espionage is punishable by death.”

Important update (h/t Sanaz): According to IRNA, the hikers are “accused” of espionage, not charged. Tehran’s prosecutor said “investigations about these three people continue and an opinion will be issued soon…”

http://www.irna.ir/View/FullStory/?NewsId=780145

Officials say police detained 109 protestors on Wednesday as the demonstrations marking the 30th anniversary of the storming of the US Embassy and the illegal seizure of American diplomats took place. But the annual demonstration, usually a day the government uses to stir anti-Western sentiment, was hijacked by supporters of the Green Movement. The detained individuals were charged with public order offenses. The BBC has more:

Security spokesman Azizollah Rajabzadeh said 62 are due to face trial while the others were released after questioning.

In recent months the opposition has used officially sanctioned demonstrations to come out in big numbers and publicise its own own messages.

Witnesses told the BBC the security forces had used tear gas and batons on Wednesday. The government defended the response, saying that the protests had been illegal.

Videos on YouTube and other sites that have emerged these past few days have confirmed this but also shown that members of the opposition are fighting back.

Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-TX) has introduced a resolution expressing continued support for the Iranian people as they stand up for freedom, human rights, and fundamental elements of democracy.  The legislation, H.Res. 888, “condemns the brutal suppression of the Iranian people through censorship, imprisonment, and continued acts of violence” and calls on the international community to maintain robust communication with the Iranian people via the media, the Internet, and telecommunications.

Rep. Granger, as a founding member of the Trans-Atlantic Parliamentary Group, is also coordinating with members of the European Union Parliament and the Canadian Parliament to introduce similar resolutions in their respective bodies.  Thus, the initiative transcends any one country or government, uniting an coalition of nations in support of the principles Iranians are standing up to defend: those of freedom, human rights, and fundamental elements of democracy.

If these are principles that you support as well, ask your member of Congress to support H.Res. 888.

ILNA interviewed an Iranian nuclear official recently who criticized the Iranian leadership for not accepting the proposed nuclear deal offered by the P-5+1. The official, Ahmad Qarib of the Iranian Atomic energy Organization, said Iran does not currently have the capacity in its nuclear infrastructure to use all of its enriched uranium, and that therefore they have nothing to lose from signing on to the deal.

In an interview with the Iranian news agency ILNA, Ahmad Qarib, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Scientific Committee member and former director of the organization’s research institute, criticized Iran’s rejection of the Vienna draft proposal under which Iran would transfer 75% of its stock of enriched uranium (its total stock is estimated at 1,600 kg) for further enrichment in a third country, so that Iran will have a supply of fuel for its Tehran nuclear reactor.

Qarib stated that because Iran does not have an infrastructure of nuclear plants that would require such a stock of enriched uranium for operation, the country really has no reason to reject the Vienna proposal. He also pointed out that the Tehran facility is not expected to operate efficiently for longer than another 10 years.

Qarib explained: “Iran has no reactor besides the Tehran research reactor and the Bushehr plant [which is not yet operational]. All this fuss [by Iran] over fuel for them comes at a time when the Bushehr [plant] is not yet finished; and even if it is completed, Russia will supply the fuel that it requires. In effect, right now we don’t need all of the 1,600 kg of uranium that we now have…”

He added that “in the era of the Mir Hossein Mousavi [government, 1981-1989], Iran purchased 680 tons of uranium, and so far has used only 12 tons of that, as fuel for the research reactor in Tehran. Over 660 tons remain – and our enrichment process [at the Natanz facility] is ongoing.”

He continued, “So it is not clear why this issue has become so complex, [when] the Tehran research reactor will be operating [efficiently] for no more than another decade [and then will have to be shut down]; [in any event,] it does not need all that fuel.”

Government police can longer get away with hit and runs as this recent Facebook post shows. Having investigators of their own, members of the opposition tracked down this member of the Pasdaran who apparently beat a woman left her in comatose after yesterdays protests.They posted his work and home address on Facebook. Keeping in line with a peaceful civil rights movement, “The aim of recognizing the assailants is not to encourage violence” notes the post. Rather, their goal is to shame and embarrass him.

The Associated Press is reporting that a reporter working for the Agence France Presse was arrested on November 4^th. The Agence France Presse has said it has not heard from reporter Farhad Pouladi since Wednesday.

The AFP’s acting bureau chief in Tehran said Iranian reporter Farhad Pouladi was taken into custody Wednesday as he headed to cover a state-sanctioned rally outside the former U.S. Embassy. Anti-government protesters also clashed with anti-riot police during counter marches not far from the rally.

Since the June elections in Iran, foreign press agencies have been barred from covering protests. Numerous reporters, both from foreign and domestic media outlets, have been arrested by the government in the months following the disputed election.

 The Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is reported to be examining Mr. Pouladi’s detention.

Relative calm has returned to Iran after a day of protests. Widespread pro- and anti-government protests, and the police forces’, Basij’s, and IRGC’s attempts to suppress the Green movement using force have come to an end.

Here is the second part of the Green Freedom Wave’s report on anti-government protests across Iran:

(Again, translation copyright New York Times Company – please give credit if you quote it)

Today’s demonstrations all across Iran were the scene of the widespread presence of Greens protesting the Coup d’etat of Khordad 1388. The scene of the protests in most of the cities across Iran today was the scene of complete aggression. An aggression without guise and naked, in which the main actors were plainclothes civilian forces using maces, Basij forces using weapons, and riot control police and people without any refuge, whose only crime was wanting to participate in demonstrations, were the innocent sacrifices of these forces. Green Freedom Wave’s reporters in Tehran and across Iran inform us about bullets being fired in the air and the irregular usage of pepper spray and tear gas, by the riot control police, in order to disperse the assemblies of the people. And in addition to this, as we reported before, Mehdi Karroubi and two of his bodyguards were subject to brutal attacks by uniformed Basij forces and were targeted by bullets. The condition of one of his bodyguards is serious and they have transferred him to a hospital. Likewise repressive forces opposite the Iranian Academy of Arts did not allow Mir Hossein Mousavi’s entourage to move towards the demonstrations. And they began attacks and beatings and creating fear amongst the people by spreading tear gas in the area.

Based on the reports that have come into the Green Freedom Wave, in addition to the injuring of a number of patiots resulting from baton beatings and the use of tear gas, a number of demonstrators today have been sent to the hostpitals and a minority have been arrested. Amongst the arrested are political activists such as Mohammad Hashemi [A leading hostage taker in 1979 and husband of Massoumeh Ebtekar their spokeswoman] central member of the Office of Unity, Fayyeseh Za’-Kohan a journalist, Hojjat Sharifi a member of the Bureau of Consolidating Unity (the leading student protest group), Vahideh Molavi a member of the group Women’s Square, Ali Mashmooli – member of the Islamic Students of Sharif University of Technology, Ali Malihi – member of the Bureau for Consolidating Unity, Hamad Sadeghi — member of the Bureau for Consolidating Unity, and Hassan Asadi-Zaydabadi — member of the Bureau for Consolidating Unity. A small number of the protesters were taken from the streets and transferred to strange, unmarked homes and we do not know what has happened to them.

The reports of the Green Freedom Wave from Neyshapur (near Mashhad) indicate that there was a widespread contingent of Green-wearing protesters in the streets there and they have recorded the people’s attempts to escape the from the hands of the coup d’etat government. In this city two girls who were being attacked by plain clothes forces were given a chance to escape by some people standing nearby and the Green Freedom Wave finds this report very interesting. Likewise the brave artists and teachers of this city were present at the Green demonstrations and they played an important role in guiding the people away from the hands of the repressive forces. Quoting from the Wave’s reporter in Neyshapur, teachers used their educational ID cards to protect people who were under threat of being arrested.

Likewise Green Freedom Wave’s reporting from Rasht (in the north of Iran) records that there was a large presence of Green-wearing protesters in this city, and they were subject to violence by coup d’etat government officials. According to the Wave’s report, news media report that Green supporting youth were marching from Toshiba Square towards Culture Square when, after having marched half of their path, a group of plainclothes security forces and men on motorcycles attacked them wildly. But the green youth changed their patht o move towards the University of Sciences of Gilan and they moved in that direction. A number of students were trying to enter the main area of the University when plainclothes security forces suddenly showed up and prevented them from entering the University. Students linked up with the people standing opposite the University gates and shouted the slogans “Death to the dictator!” “Down with Russia and the eyeless government!” Likewise in the Government’s office square in Rasht which was on the official demonstration’s path, reports indicate many confrontations occurred. This happened while the champion of Gilan’s local government, alongside Ayatollah Ghorbani (the Supreme Leader’s Representative in Gilan), and Bijan Nowbaveh an MP from Tehran, who had a special presence as the main speaker at the government’s ceremony, were all present at a special location. While the Basijis and government-supporting teachers were shouting slogans from loudspeakers, a number of young boys and girls suddenly began chanting in response: “Our nation says Death to Russia!” and their numbers quietly increased – shocking the audience. Plainclothes security forces first looked at this scene with surprise but then they suddenly attacked these protesters using batons. Police forces entered the scene after the Basij attack, as they usually have in recent months, and instead of helping the people they arrested a number of protesters. There still is no accurate information on the number of arrested in Rasht but eyewitnesses inform the Wave’s reporter in Rasht that about 15 people were arrested in the government office’s square. It is still unclear where these people were transferred to.

Green Freedom Wave’s reporter in Mashhad also report a self-organized movement of students at the Ferdowsi University in Mashhad, who began marching in front of the Engineering University in Mashhad and moved towards the Engineering department, the Mathematics department, the administrative sciences department, and continued towards the Dentistry department, and later moved out of the University towards Freedom Square. At about 1 in the afternoon they were on Vakilabad street towards Freedom Square – near Ali al-Khosoos across from Ferdowsi University – when they met with heavy traffic. They could see Special Forces police units across from the main gate of Ferdowsi University. At the same time, at the start of the protests, the Basij forces received help from University teachers in using loudspeakers and other tools to create disorder in the protests, to which students responded with slogans like “Basiji, be Ashamed! Free the University [from your terror]!” Green students at Ferdowsi University who were increasing by the minute, were being filmed by forces covering their faces, to which they responded “Turn off your cameras! Listen to what we say!” They also shouted “Ahmadinejad, show us where you got your 63% from!”

Likewise eye witness reports in Mashhad indicate that many students carried signs saying “Independence, Freedom, Iranian Republic” (as opposed to Khomeini’s slogan, “Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic”), and they shouted the slogan “The Embassy of Russia is the Den of Spies” (Iran calls the ex-US Embassy the Den of Spies). It is said that the students living on campus were preparing to continue their protests into the night.

Allameh Tabatabaie University was also the site of a widespread Green protest. According to Green Freedom Wave’s reporter in Tehran, today in the Econmoics department at Allameh, located at AbbasAbad street on the intersection with Bucharest street, nearly 200 students assembled near the south door of the University and shouted anti-government slogans, and they were met by support from the people living on AbbasAbad street. Nearly 2000 students assembled outside the university on AbbasAbad. After nearly 30 minutes of the students’ assembly, IRGC forces (wearing IRGC uniforms!) broke down the doors to enter the University and they proceeded to beat a number of male and female students severely – which resulted in one of the students getting a fractured skull. Likewise many tear gas canisters were fired into the University and 3 students were hit directly by these canisters. These IRGC forces who had violated the privacy of the University were confronted by even the university’s Basij student contingent – and they physically confronted the Basij students and intimidated them. All of the classes at Allameh were cancelled for the day.

Likewise thousands of students at Qazvin Free University (in the north of Iran) organized pro-Green assemblies there. These students shouted slogans supporting Mousavi and Karroubi.

Scattered reports across Tehran and from universities across the nation indicate that people are going to shout “Allah Akbar” tonight from 9pm to 10pm.

This fascinating video came to our attention yesterday.  It shows Amb. John Limbert, at the time a hostage in the US Embassy, speaking with Ali Khamenei, then Iran’s president (and currently the Supreme Leader).  Just this morning, Amb. Limbert — a NIAC advisory board member — joined us at our Capitol Hill conference for a panel assessing Obama’s diplomacy with Iran, but this is an amazing look at his experience thirty years ago today.

For non-Farsi speakers, the exchange between Limbert and Khamenei here is incredibly interesting.  To paraphrase: Limbert politely welcomed Khamenei, who was being treated as a guest since he was visiting the hostages at their “residence” where they were being held.  Limbert remarked about the Iranian cultural quirk known as “taarof,” which characterizes the uniquely Iranian version of hospitality, saying: Iranians are too hospitable to guests in their country, when we insist that we must be going, you all tell us “no, no, you must stay.”

When Limbert pressed the matter further, Khamenei revealed that the real issue was the United States’ willingness to allow the deposed Shah to enter into the country for medical treatment.  When the US returns the Shah to Iran so the revolutionary government can prosecute him, Khamenei explained, then the hostages will be allowed to leave.

For those old enough to remember the hostage crisis as it happened, this will surely evoke strong memories from that period thirty years ago.  But for the rest of us, this is an amazingly personal glimpse into the ordeal that held the world’s attention for so long, and for which all of us are still dealing with the repercussions.