“Barack Obama has revealed an exchange of letters with Iran’s new President Hassan Rowhani but warned his reluctance to strike Syria should not devalue US threats of force to thwart an Iranian nuclear bomb. The US president, in an interview aired Sunday, publicly confirmed the outreach to Rowhani for the first time, and said he believed the Syria chemical arms drama showed that diplomacy could work if backed by threats of military action. In his interview, Obama said that the outcome of the Syrian deal offered Iran a ‘lesson’ in the benefits of diplomacy.”
