FINANCIAL TIMES: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of Iran’s most influential political leaders, has raised hopes of a comprehensive nuclear deal with world powers within a year.
In a rare interview with the Financial Times in Tehran, Mr Rafsanjani, 79, declared that Sunday’s interim deal was the hardest step because it meant overcoming decades of diplomatic estrangement with the US going back to the 1979 Islamic revolution.
“It was breaking the ice, the second stage will be more routine,” said the former two-term Iranian president, sitting serenely in his book-lined office in an elegant Tehran palace that once belonged to the late Shah, who was ousted in the revolution… (more)
