The death of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini earlier this month put pressure on Iran to make some kind of move to break out of the diplomatic isolation into which it had become sealed during his decade-long xenophobic rule. The main question was which direction Tehran would look in first. Last week Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful Speaker of Iran's parliament, provided the answer. Interrupting his observance of a 40-day period of national mourning for the late Imam, Rafsanjani arrived in Moscow to an elaborate reception. The visit was the beginning of a thaw between neighbors whose relations had been frosty for...
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