AHC: US-Iran Diplomatic Breakthrough

Have Bush have fewer of the neocons in his cabinet. Khatami in September 2001 calls the 9/11 attacks a "heinous crime" committed by the "apostates who call themselves Muslims". Bush hears of that and invites Khatami and Khamenei to visit the site, daring the latter to see it for themselves. Khamenei rises to the challenge and both come. Both are stunned by it, saying how wrong it is for people who call themselves Muslims to commit such a crime against humanity. They return to Iran after the high-profile visit.

In November 2001 Khamenei is killed in a plane crash caused by electronic problems in an Iranian Air Force jet. Khamenei's successor is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who supports Khatami's attempts to resolve the difference between Iran and America. America's invasion of Afghanistan isn't hated in Tehran, as people know why it is being done, and while Bush's advisors frequently have big mouths, he is more judicious in his comments towards Islam. Iraq is never invaded. Bush narrowly loses his re-election bid in 2004, and Senator John Kerry assumes the presidency - and one of his decisions sees most of the neocons swept out, a decision that most of the Middle East is happy about. Kerry also puts greater pressure on the Israelis to come to an equitable settlement with the Palestinians, making the resolution of that long-time conflict a major facet of his foreign policy.

The support of Rafsanjani and Khatami is successful in propelling Mehdi Karroubi to the presidency over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005. Karroubi and Rafsanjani support America's actions to shut down the Taliban - the Iranians didn't like them any more than Washington did - and Iran starts to further cultivate the view of being a moderate nation, believing that Islam and the West are not as incompatible as some say they are. Iran's population comes to loudly support the moderates.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps attempts a coup against Rafsanjani and Karroubi in April 2006. Rafsanjani and Karroubi are killed in the coup attempt, but the coup fails due to gargantuan protests and civil unrest, and in May 2006 the Assembly of Exports makes Mohammed Khatami Iran's Supreme Leader and Mir-Hossein Mousavi is lured out of retirement to become Iran's president. The Guard Corps is dismantled, but begins a long and dangerous insurgency against the government in Tehran - who along with the population of the nation are now highly against the more conservative clerics. This leads to beginnings of a nasty insurgency which turns violent repeatedly. In August 2006, Iran asks for help fighting the insurgents from Western Europe, Australia and Canada. Britain and Canada ask for their citizens who have been arrested there to be given back first, and in both cases, the people involved return to their homes.

In January 2007, in the aftermath of the Israeli War in Lebanon (which did not succeed at many of its objectives), President Kerry invited the Palestinian and Israeli leadership to Camp David, seeking a restart of the peace process - but to the Palestinians' surprise, Kerry told Israeli PM Ehud Olmert point-blank that a deal needed to be found, and that if and when Israel came to a permanent deal with the Palestinians, Kerry would deploy "many" American troops to Israel to ensure its security. A week after that, the formal arrangements were shown to the sides - a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip along 1967 borders, with a stretch of land between them being part of Israel but the Palestinians having movement and settlement rights within that strip, the deployment of over sixty thousand US troops to Israel on a permanent basis and financial support to the Israelis having to move out of Palestinian territory. The Israeli far-right is against the idea, but the rest of the country sees how it will be forever ensure their security.

On January 27, 2007, Khatami and Mousavi jump into this, stating that if the deal is made, that Iran will cut all ties to Hezbollah, recognize Israel, provide financial support to Palestinian reconstruction efforts and re-open diplomatic relations with the United States. Hezbollah regards this as a massive insult, but the PLO is for it. Mousavi also makes it clear in his statement that the new nation of Palestine will be an ally of Iran, and that any Israeli attacks on it will draw an Iranian response. "We want the Palestinians to have a home, a place that they can call their own. Their pain has gone on for far too long." Iran goes so far as to offer to moderate the discussions. It's a gift from heaven for Kerry, who has the pro-Israel opposition calling the demands a "sellout of Israel". On February 8, 2007, President Kerry and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announce that they will seek to re-open diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On February 26, 2007, Israel and the Palestinians come to terms, and the next day, Iran announces its formal support of the Palestinian state. They beat the Arabs to punch, but all of the Arab states follow within days. Iran announces its recognition of the state of Israel on March 2, 2007. The Israeli Knesset ratifies the agreement on March 20, 2007, and the first Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, announces the creation of the State of Palestine on April 4, 2007. Washington in happy about Iran's involvement and cut-off of Hezbollah, and on April 25, 2007, the first American ambassador to Iran is confirmed by the Senate. He is brought to Iran in a very high-profile ceremony on May 3, 2007. The next day, a special Iran Air flight beings Iran's first ambassador to America since 1979 to Washington.
 
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