WINEP: "Diplomacy with Iran should be conducted with a sense of urgency, no matter who is in power"

WINEP's Makovsky in the USA Today, here

"...But the Obama administration would be wise to stick with a low-key, pro-reform approach while keeping its eye on the ball: the prospects of a nuclear Iran.

.....nuclear enrichment program ,...It's precisely this area of foreign policy where the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will not want to lose control, viewing it as key to regime survival. Even if he makes domestic concessions to defuse this crisis, he will likely still hold the reins of the nuclear program.....

This also explains President Obama's current stance. The U.S. could be left dealing with unsavory elements of the regime if Washington wants to forestall a nuclear Iran. As such, Obama will be taking a page out of the past. In the tradition of the 1970s and 1980s in dealing with the Soviet Union, the U.S. knew how to balance its aim for nuclear arms control alongside concerns for human rights. This dual approach cast a spotlight on the Soviets' legitimacy deficit...."