A US Deal for Iran & Ahmadinejad: How Twitter Revealed the Plan on Afghanistan

We're working on a major analysis of the Obama Administration's approach to Iran --- think the pressure of sanctions linked to hopes for talks with Tehran on not only the nuclear issue but other regional matters --- but in the meantime, let's turn it over to Vali Nasr to give a sneak peek on Twitter.

Nasr is doubly unusual for a US official. First, he made his name as an academic primarily working on Pakistan but also with some scholarship on Iran; he was brought into Government last year as an assistant to Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Second, his output on Twitter offers much more than the Administration's public line.

So consider these two tweets this afternoon. First comes "Ahmadinejad's interview with Amanpour is noteworthy on Afghanistan, hikers, nuclear issue". No denunciation of the Iranian President. Also no mention of the Sakineh Mohammad Ashtiani "stoning" case, human rights and Iran's internal situation, even though Amanpour brought up all of these. Just a list of areas whether there might be a possible US-Iran resolution.

In case you missed this, Nasr followed up 13 minutes later, "Ahmadinejad: Iran 'Open to Cooperation' with U.S. on the Taliban", linking to ABC News's summary of the Amanpour interview.

Am I reading too much into 140 characters or less? Flash back to last weekend, when someone in the Administration used David Ignatius of The Washington Post to put out this message in far more than those 140 characters: 

U.S. policy is still in flux, but the administration appears ready for a limited dialogue with Iran about Afghanistan, perhaps conducted through the two countries' embassies in Kabul. This position has not been communicated to the Iranians, in part because Washington is waiting to see whether Iran will return soon to negotiations about its nuclear program with the "P-5 plus 1" group [US, France, Britain, Russia, China, Germany].

So, at least for some in the Administration, this is the deal for Mahmoud in New York (and for the Supreme Leader in Tehran?): Give us the public appearance of coming back to the nuclear talks --- without insisting at this point on unilateral enrichment of uranium inside Iran --- and we can work together for mutual benefits in Afghanistan.