By Thomas Erdbrink, New York Times, Jan. 1, 2014

TEHRAN — One of Iran’s most prominent former diplomats, an ally of President Hassan Rouhani, has returned to the country, ending his unofficial exile in the United States, state news media reported on Tuesday.

The former diplomat, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who for many years was the spokesman of Iran’s nuclear negotiation team, left Tehran for Princeton University in 2009 after hard-liners accused him of espionage during earlier rounds of nuclear talks with European powers.

“I have returned to Iran to stay,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency [....]

It was unclear from the news accounts of Mr. Mousavian’s return what role, if any, he might play in the current nuclear negotiations or in other government affairs. But the publicity given to his homecoming suggested that Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, remained confident in Mr. Rouhani’s handling of the nuclear negotiations [....]