Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History

Critical to each other's foreign policy and security interests in the region, the United States and Iran have been locked in confrontation for over three decades, a period that has seen only limited contact and little mutual understanding. With a new administration in Washington and political uncertainty in the aftermath of the contested Iranian presidential elections in June, there is renewed debate in American policymaking circles about the nature, efficacy, and utility of negotiating with the Islamic Republic. As the nation contemplates ways to address the U.S.-Iranian crisis, the question of how to negotiate with Iran has been largely overlooked.