Dinner Diplomacy: Rouhani and America

Reflecting a greater flexibility and movement by Iranian officials to interact with American officials during visits to New York,  President Hassan Rouhani held an unprecedented dinner meeting with  "twenty former American officials—including a secretary of state, three national-security advisers, and a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—from all six Administrations since the 1979 revolution....Among his guests were the former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the former national-security advisers Stephen Hadley, Samuel Berger, and Brent Scowcroft, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, and the former congresswoman Jane Harman, who served on the House Intelligence, Homeland Security, and Armed Services Committees."