Iran experts abound. But few of those talking about the Islamic Republic have ever lived or worked there.
Francois Nicoullaud, the former French envoy to Tehran, lived in Iran for more than four years, learned some Farsi and wrote a small book about Iran.
He discussed ways to resolve the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program in an article that appeared in today’s Los Angeles Times.
During the same interview, he talked about the deeper conflict between Iran and the U.S., and whether he saw any possibility of resolving the decades-old animosity rooted in the U.S. role in the 1953 coup d’etat that overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh and the 1979 revolution that led to the taking of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
LAT: Do you think that the United States and Iran are ready to forgive and forget 30 years of hostility?
Francois Nicoullaud: The Americans have apologized already for the wrongdoings of the past, especially for the CIA coup against Mossadegh. The difficulty for the Iranians in apologizing for their own wrongdoings, …
