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U.S., Iran Relations Move to Detente
(Wall Street Journal) Jay Solomon and Maria Abi-Habib - The Obama administration and Iran, engaged in direct nuclear negotiations and facing a common threat from Islamic State militants, have moved into an effective state of detente over the past year, according to senior U.S. and Arab officials. Israel contends the U.S. has weakened the terms of its negotiations with Iran and played down Tehran's destabilizing role in the region. The Obama administration also has markedly softened its confrontational stance toward Iran's most important nonstate allies, Hamas and Hizbullah. American diplomats, including Secretary of State John Kerry, negotiated with Hamas leaders through Turkish and Qatari intermediaries during the Gaza cease-fire talks this summer, according to senior U.S. officials. "The Iranian regime is revolutionary and can't get too close to us. So I'd be wary of any rapprochement," said Scott Modell, a former CIA officer now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "I think they are hell bent on pursuing a number of courses that run counter to U.S. interests." Meanwhile, the U.S. military is planning to play down and avoid publicity for the annual minesweeping exercise being organized by the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. In past years, the exercise has been used to highlight unified opposition to Iranian activities in the Persian Gulf, according to a U.S. official.