Iran and the United States: time to engage

Here is my piece in"Open Democracy":

"There is a wider strategic interest for the United States too. The US is currently attempting to contain the influence of Iran's hardliners in the region by employing Saudi Arabia and Pakistan as a proxy - two states where democracy is merely a dream even for optimists. If ever a "one individual, one vote" system is established in either country, radical Islamists are bound to rise to power - and whose access to nuclear bombs would make their containment near impossible. It is part of a greater geopolitical hypocrisy that the status of these two countries as US allies has guaranteed them immunity from criticism for their violations of human rights, lack of democracy, and even sponsorship (financial and ideological) of terrorism. (Read the rest of the story here.)