There is an old saying that in politics and international relations, there are no permanent friends or foes. Every government works for the benefit of its country and hence both war and friendship also get decided by this national interest. One who saw the hyped mutual distrust between China and USA in sixties, was surprised to see a sudden thaw n Sino-American mutual relations. Similarly, the US having Pakistan in its NATO combination was never soft to India for her pro-USSR leanings at a tme when the cold-war between these two super powers was at its peak. In the present uni-polar world, America is enjoying a very cordial relation with India and is calculatedly cold to Pakistan.
In West Asia, two great friends of USA were the kings of Saudi Arab and the Shah of Iran. In an unprecedented insurgency, the autocratic govt of the Shah was swept away and a religious cleric, Ayatollah Khomeini assumed power and since then USA-Iranian relationship has remained acutely sour. Particularly after the Iranian determination to go nuclear, it reached its zenith and USA adopted the policy of segregating Iran to break its economy and compel to eschew the destructive atomic misadventure. Till Ahmedinezad was the President, Iran was strongly opposed to compromising its nuclear stand.
Today, there is a welcome change. In the recently concluded elections, a moderate like Hassan Rouhani has assumed presidentship. As hinted in his election campaigns, he lost no time in moving ahead for befriending USA. He has boldly declared to the West that his country will not press its programmes of atomic weapons. It has sent a very soothing message to America and other continental countries. It is believed that while in New York, next week in connection with the UN General Assembly meeting, on its sidelines he will shake hands with Barack Obama. If Rouhani has courage to go a step ahead, the world will move many steps in that direction as peace is something which the world requires. Iran is our big oil supplier and an old friend and hence this trend is welcome here.
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