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Iran is central to our foreign policy in the Middle East, a major player in global energy markets, and a key country in terms of our interaction with the Muslim world.

For years, Iran has worked to position itself to dominate the entire Middle East and to impose its version of radical Islam on society. It is actively working to destabilize Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.

Iran is not in any sort of routine groupings. It's not an Arab country. It's not part of the Indian subcontinent. So it's in a neighborhood where it has some unique characteristics. We are a country which embraced Islam, learned Arabic, but didn't change its language or its culture... That's what keeps us unique.

In short, the time has come for us as American and Iranian citizens to apply our mutual energy, intellect, and goodwill toward strengthening relations between our two countries, as their destinies are intertwined.

Syria and Iran have always had a pretty tight relationship, and it looks to me like they just cooked up a press release to put out to sort of restate the obvious. They're both problem countries; we know that. And this doesn't change anything.

If we can ascertain and show to our people that the West is ready to deal with Iran on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interests and equal footing, then it will have an impact on almost every aspect of Iran's foreign policy behavior - and some aspects of Iran's domestic policy.

The Iran nuclear issue is on top of the agenda. It is a very complicated issue with long history.

Look what's going on: the Iranians are spreading military capabilities throughout the region; look what's going on in Yemen, Hizbollah, their cooperation with Assad, terror activities the world over, undermining regimes and states.