Ramin Asgard : an Obama - Rouhani handshake turned out to be ` ` too complicated '' Asgard : Near - U.S.-Iran presidential handshake in 1998 , but it was different then . But diplomatic ##ally hopeful , he says , and Obama and Rouhani agreed on key principles . Indeed , even the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was obliged to qualify his recent call for `` heroic flexibility '' after hardliners objected . Obama : For the first time in decades , real bilateral diplomacy has a chance .
Ramin Asgard : an Obama - Rouhani handshake turned out to be ` ` too complicated '' Asgard : Near - U.S.-Iran presidential handshake in 1998 , but it was different then . But diplomatic ##ally hopeful , he says , and Obama and Rouhani agreed on key principles . Obama : For the first time in decades , real bilateral diplomacy has a chance .