Direct one-on-one dialogue, unencumbered by the influence of third parties, is what is needed to promote the cause of US-Iran ties, irrespective of how some European governments, such as Britain, press to maintain their previous privileges derived from the US’s “outsourcing” of the Iran issue.
In other words, a re-interpretation of global politics, in tune with the post-hegemonic needs of the current world order, is needed to make sense of the significance of Iran-US talks, given the Western interventions in Iran’s vicinity. A clean break from the cognitive road map that led to those interventions has yet to emerge from Obama, and this may prove to be a major lacuna of today’s US talks with Iran.