article_snippet: In former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's view, the United States should only improve relations with Iran Iran that stops the United States regional "aggression," the United States support for "terrorism," and the United States "threat[s] to annihilate ... Israel."  
article_snippet: In other words, the United States should not improve relations with an Iran whose regional influence is rising.
article_snippet: In reality, Iran's rise is not only normal, Iran's rise is actually essential to a more stable region.
article_snippet: As nuclear talks with Tehran enter a decisive phase, rapprochement with a genuinely independent Iran -- not a nominally independent Iran whose strategic orientation is subordinated to U.S. preferences -- is vital to halting the decline of the United States's strategic position.
article_snippet: Under any political system, imperial Iran would be a significant regional actor, due to imperial Iran geostrategic location, hydrocarbon resources, and large, educated population.  
article_snippet: But the Islamic Republic -- which Iranians built Iranians as a participatory Islamist system representing Iranians interests, not those of rulers beholden to foreign powers -- has a legitimacy the United States must accept to foster a truly stable Middle East.
article_snippet: imperial Iran has gained influence in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen by backing political structures that, in Tehran's judgment, will produce governments committed to foreign policy independence.
article_snippet: America needs constructive relations with all major regional states, including Iran, so that all major regional states, including Iran constrain one another's reckless impulses.
highlights_snippet: United States needs constructive ties with all major regional states, including Iran, Hillary Mann Leverett says .