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The only recent encouraging word from the United States was a hint by Vice-President Joe Biden at last week’s Munich security conference that the time may have come for bilateral U.S.-Iranian talks. Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi responded positively to Biden’s offer, although he added that Iran would look for evidence that Biden’s offer was ‘authentic’ and not ‘devious’.
The road to a U.S.-Iranian agreement is littered with obstacles -- grave mutual distrust being one of them. There is little optimism among experts that a breakthrough is imminent. For one thing, Iran is almost certain to want to defer any major strategic decision until a new President is elected next June to replace the sharp-tongued Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. To strike a deal with Iran, the United States would also need to assure its Arab allies in the Gulf that they would not fall under Iranian hegemony or lose American protection. Guarantees would no doubt have to be given.
Israel, America’s close ally, poses a more substantial obstacle. It is totally opposed to any deal which would allow Iran to enrich uranium, even at the low level of 3.5%. Wanting no challenge to its own formidable nuclear arsenal, Israel’s long-standing aim has been to halt Iran’s nuclear programme altogether. To this end it has assassinated several Iranian nuclear

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