This all but closes the door for a breakthrough in U.S.-Iran relations.

he was the candidate who could offer economic deliverance and do away with a lot of corruption and economic stagnation that had marked Iranian politics and economics for the last eight years.

They go back three or four decades, and they’ve been through a lot together. I think Khamenei is tending domestically to his power base, and he does want to avert an international crisis.

This is more than symbolic. This is the leader saying, ‘We’re moving too far right,’ … I’m loath to call Rafsanjani moderate, but in the current context, he is a voice of moderation.

He’s the most talented diplomat in the Iranian government. He could make a difference in the nuclear negotiations.