American diplomat: Iranian regime unable to respond positively to outreach

NCRI – John Limbert, one of the 52 Americans taken hostage by the Iranian regime in Tehran in 1979, suggested in a radio interview that the Obama experience has shown that the Iranian regime is not susceptible to negotiations.

According to NPR on Saturday, Limbert, who will soon leave his job as the head of the State Department's Iran desk, said, "I think the Iranians, either out of a sense of insecurity or internal paralysis, seem unable to respond positively to what everyone sees as a very sincere effort at outreach.”

Limbert will step away from the Department’s Iran desk after nine months on the job.

"When I left Tehran in January of 1981, I thought, 'OK, five years — 10 years maybe — we and the Iranians in some way will be talking to each other,'" he recounted in his interview, according to NPR. "I was obviously wrong,” he added.