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Obama's Foreign Policy Agenda
(New York Times) Mark Landler - Atop Obama's list, administration officials and foreign policy experts agree, is a deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program. The U.S. is likely to engage the Iranian government in direct negotiations in the next few months, officials said, in what would be a last-ditch diplomatic effort to head off a military strike on its nuclear facilities. Officials insist they have not set a date for talks nor do they know if Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has blessed them. But with Iran's centrifuges spinning and Israel threatening its own strike, the clock is ticking, and it may put pressure on the Iranians to make a deal. For Obama, the Middle East is generally less a landscape for bold new initiatives than a place for triage. But unfinished business remains - not least his frustrated efforts to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. But several experts expressed doubt that the president would thrust himself again into the role of Middle East peacemaker.