Former U.S. Congressman Jim Slattery became one of the only former elected U.S. officials to travel to Iran last month, where he came away from meetings with senior Iranian officials optimistic about prospects for reaching a nuclear deal that would enhance the interests of the United States and its allies, including  Israel, he told Al-Monitor.
“I believe we have a historic opportunity,” Slattery, who represented Kansas in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995, told Al-Monitor in an interview Jan. 2. “I believe the leadership in Iran and the U.S....all want to pursue a negotiated resolution of this problem around the nuclear issue, and I believe a deal is reachable.”

“It is going to require some give on both sides, but I think it is reachable,” he said, adding that a nuclear agreement “would be good for Iran, it would be good for the U.S. and … Israel, and it holds the promise of fundamentally realigning the Middle East.”

This article was written by Laura Rozen  for  Al Monitor on December 3, 2014. Laura Rozen reports on foreign policy from Washington, DC, for Al-Monitor's Back Channel. She has written for Yahoo! News, Politico and Foreign Policy. On Twitter: @LRozen


 

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