dagblog - Comments for " Zarif Diary on US-Iran Breakthrough (plus Obama/Rouhani phone call--in comments)"

Hassan Rouhani suggests

artappraiser — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 19:02:55 +0000

In reply to Zarif Diary on US-Iran Breakthrough (plus Obama/Rouhani phone call--in comments)

Hassan Rouhani suggests resuming direct flights between Iran and US

Iranian president asks aide to look at restarting flights after more than three decades as part of thaw in relation

By Saeed Kamali Dehghan, theguardian.com, 30 September 2013

Ok, my bad, I found more on

artappraiser — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:59:46 +0000

In reply to The griffin vessel story is

Ok, my bad, I found more on the return of the vessel by using different search terms. The State Dept. presented it to him. And they didn't present it as a gift. And it was sitting in a U.S. Customs warehouse because there were no channels to return it with the freeze in effect. Makes more sense now:

Archaeo-diplomacy: US gives million-dollar cup back to Iran
Alan Boyle, Science Editor NBC News, 17 hours ago

Here's one more sign of a thaw in U.S.-Iranian relations: A 2,700-year-old silver drinking cup, looted from a cave in Iran and seized by U.S. Customs officials a decade ago, was returned to Iran this week. Its value is estimated at a million dollars or more.

The ceremonial drinking vessel from the 7th century B.C., cast in the shape of a winged griffin, has been sitting in a warehouse in New York for years. And for years, U.S. officials have been saying they couldn't return it to Iran until relations between Washington and Tehran were normalized. "This piece can't go back," the New York Post quoted James McAndrew, senior special agent in charge of cultural property for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as saying in 2010.

On Wednesday, the piece went back.

"It is considered the premier griffin of antiquity, a gift of the Iranian people to the world, and the United States is pleased to return it to the people of Iran," the U.S. State Department said. [.....]

It is a big deal. What it was a gesture of a was strong desire to open diplomatic channels!

The griffin vessel story is

artappraiser — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:51:24 +0000

In reply to Hassan Rouhani's return to

The griffin vessel story is odd. It appears it's only been reported by IRNA. No non-Iranian coverage that I can find. They say The US officials presented the ceremonial drinking vessel belonging to the 7th century BC to Iran as a token of goodwill. This would not be normal channels for return of property stolen from a country. And the repatriation of a stolen item is not really a gift. Nor should it be considered a "token of good will," but merely the right and legal thing to do.

If it is true, what American "officials" came and gave it to him, someone from the F.B.I.? What the heck? I am thinking that rather this had something to do with UNESCO at the U.N.

It's extra confusing because we have frozen all Iranian assets here in the U.S. for decades. So I honestly don't know what we would have been doing with something like this if it was confiscated in a prosecution. Put it in some vault somewhere to be held in perpetuity for the people of Iran? I would rather think we'd have handed it over to an intermediary country to return to Iran, and that country use normal channels.

I'm sure we'll find out more soon now that Western media has picked up the IRNA story.

Hassan Rouhani's return to

artappraiser — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:11:46 +0000

In reply to found via Robin Wright's

Hassan Rouhani's return to Iran marked by 'death to America' chants
Shoe thrown at president's motorcade, but hardliners outnumbered by supporters welcoming diplomacy with US
By Conal Urquhart and agencies, theguardian.com, 28 Sept. 2013

The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, was greeted by hardliners chanting "death to America" when he returned to Tehran following his historic telephone call with the US president, Barack Obama.

One protester threw a shoe at his car – a gesture of deep insult in Islamic countries. It missed, but others pelted his official car with eggs and stones, according to witness reports on Twitter.

About 100 hardline protesters were outnumbered by two to three times as many Rouhani supporters at the airport, shouting "thank you Rouhani". The president stood up through the sunroof to acknowledge the crowds [....]

Iranian media said hundreds of Rouhani supporters turned up to hail his UN visit, where he fulfilled pledges of having "constructive interaction" with the world in order to ease Iran's international isolation and get punitive sanctions lifted.

The semi-official Mehr news agency ran pictures of groups of protesters holding up a "death to America" placard and banging the sides of Rouhani's limousine as it began to depart the airport. Mehr said one protester threw one of his shoes at the car. [....]

Hassan Rouhani greeted with cheers and protests on return to Iran
Iranian president gets mixed reception on return home following UN trip and historic phonecall with US president
By Julian Borger, diplomatic editor, theguardian.com, 28 Sept. 2013

Hassan Rouhani returned to Tehran from New York on Saturday after his historic phonecall with Barack Obama to a mixture of cheers from supporters and protests from hardliners who threw eggs and shoes at his car.

The reception greeting the Iranian president at Tehran airport reflected the precarious tightrope he will have to walk to do a deal with the west. Ultra-conservative protesters chanted: "Death to America" and hurled invective and missiles at Rouhani's car. But his supporters outnumbered his opponents – estimated about 50-strong – and more importantly, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sent his closest foreign policy adviser to greet Rouhani.

The presence of Ali Akbar Velayati gave weight to Rouhani's insistence that he had the highest authority to pursue his diplomatic initiative at the UN general assembly, which culminated in a groundbreaking 15-minute phone conversation with Obama on Friday, conducted on a mobile phone while Rouhani was on the way to John F Kennedy airport.

Iranian state television did not broadcast the hardliner protests at the airport, and the state news agency, Irna, instead played up the fact that the US had presented Rouhani with a 2,700 year-old Persian silver drinking vessel, shaped like a gryphon. It had been seized from an art dealer who had smuggled it out of Iran in 2003 and the state department had been waiting for a thaw in relations in order to return it.

The majority of the official and semi-official Iranian press reports on Rouhani's trip have been supportive or neutral. Even Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards' external operations wing, the Quds Force, a powerful figure in the security apparatus, had positive things to say about the visit. Suleimani acknowledged the respect the world had shown to Rouhani, attributing it to the "resistance and endurance" of the nation.

However, the delicate nature of Rouhani's position was also evident in the careful managing of the coverage of the New York trip [....]

Rouhani Deletes Tweets Of

artappraiser — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 09:51:46 +0000

In reply to found via Robin Wright's

Rouhani Deletes Tweets Of Conversation With Obama
By Jabbar Fazeli, MD, Uskowi on Iran, Sept. 27, 2013

Rounahi's first tweets about his phone conversation with Obama were in first person format and uncensored.

[illustration]

Hours later the tweets were deleted and replaced with ones formatted in third person and missing the fuzziness of the first tweets.

[illustrations]

Rouhani may want to do something different, but at the end of the day he too has minders, and they may not all be on his payroll.

Details of Conversation With Obama Deleted From Twitter Account in Rouhani’s Name
By Robert Mackey, The Lede @ nytimes.com,, Sept, 27, 2013, 7:29 pm

According to Robert Windrem of NBC News, an Iranian who witnessed Friday’s historic conversation between the presidents of the United States and Iran “was giddy” describing it a short time later.

Excitement about the diplomatic breakthrough among President Hassan Rouhani’s aides — perhaps followed by second thoughts about diplomatic etiquette or how it might play back home — could also explain why a rapid-fire series of updates divulging details of the conversation were posted on the @HassanRouhani Twitter account and then deleted a short time later

[.....continued with illustrations]

When Rouhani Met Ollie North

artappraiser — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 05:26:32 +0000

In reply to Zarif Diary on US-Iran Breakthrough (plus Obama/Rouhani phone call--in comments)

When Rouhani Met Ollie North … and strung the White House along to get more weapons.
By Shane Harris, ForeignPolicy.com, Sept. 26, 2013

Hasan Rouhani, a 37-year-old senior foreign affairs advisor in the Iranian government, and his country's future president, sat with a delegation of White House officials on the top floor of what was once the Hilton hotel in Tehran. It was May 27, 1986, and Rouhani had come to secretly broker a deal with the Americans, at great political and personal risk.

The U.S. team's ostensible purpose was to persuade Iranian leaders to assist in the release of American hostages held in Lebanon, something Rouhani was willing to do in exchange for the United States selling missiles and weapons systems to Iran. But the group, which consisted of senior National Security Council staffers, including a then little-known Marine lieutenant colonel named Oliver North, had a second and arguably more ambitious goal: to forge a new political alliance with moderate Iranian leaders, such as Rouhani and his bosses, the men who ran the country.

In those meetings, the man to whom U.S. officials are now turning as the best hope for a rapprochement with Iran, after more than three decades of hostilities, showed himself to be a shrewd negotiator, ready to usher in a new era of openness [....]

More info. above, but here's

artappraiser — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 02:39:54 +0000

In reply to found via Robin Wright's

More info. above, but here's CNN's take on the phone call:

It's a three-decade first: Presidents of U.S., Iran talk directly, if only by phone
By Chelsea J. Carter, CNN, updated 7:41 PM EDT, September 27, 2013

found via Robin Wright's

artappraiser — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 02:26:19 +0000

In reply to Zarif Diary on US-Iran Breakthrough (plus Obama/Rouhani phone call--in comments)

found via Robin Wright's Twitter feed; she also points to:

Obama's historic call with #Iran President @hassrouhani...Read all about it! http://t.co/O3PWSJc4O8
— Robin Wright (@wrightr) September 27, 2013