Bloomberg Businessweek  has now arrived at the same conclusion as I did a month ago. BB of course has high level sources in Washington and Tehran to base such news reports, whereas mine was pure, unalloyed passion for ‘Iran watching’ stemming from an old heartache for that country and its beautiful people.

Not really. It was also a partisan ‘India-centric’ wishful thinking. Having had many occasions to sit in the same room with Velayati in Tehran and Delhi as he held forth as foreign minister, I can vouchsafe that his coming to power as president will be wonderful news for India — that is, if Delhi genuinely seeks to rebuild the strategic ties with Iran. 

Velayati played a key role in the rising curve of the India-Iranian relationship during the period of the decade from the end of the 1980s (when the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi made a dramatic initiative toward Tehran). 

The strategic understanding peaked when Tehran helped us weather the storm in the Muslim countries following the destruction of the Babri Masjid (1992) and the Iranian leadership showed infinite understanding over the bloodletting and unspeakable atrocities that were going on in J&K in the early 1990s. 

And subsequently, Iran helped us to counter the Saudi-led diplomatic onslaughts in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation over the Kashmir problem and, indeed, in putting together the anti-Taliban resistance known as the Northern Alliance (1997). 

Those were times when we never shied away from underscoring that as far as India’s core interests were concerned, Iran is a factor of stability. A lot of all this was made possible under Velayati’s guidance. He had a vision for Iran-India relationship and he considered the relationship to be of pivotal importance to his country. 

I can still recall the conversation in Hyderabad House in late 1989 when Velayati first mooted the idea of the North-South Corridor as India’s access route to Russia and Central Asia — and indeed outlined potentials of an Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. 

His urbaneness, his erudition, his steely nerves and unflappable presence of mind as negotiator and the unfailing impish humor to lace any social occasion after a hard day’s bargaining — all of that will serve Iran well to calm the waters of the Straits of Hormuz.

There can be no two opinions that Velayati represents the Iranian regime’s hardcore interests. But he is a pragmatist also, who knows that politics is the art of the possible. 

And if and when the US-Iran talks begin, as they should once the June election is out of the way, Velayati is the man who can negotiate best for Iran, since he enjoys the confidence of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has a thorough understanding of world politics and the working of the international system, and above all is a fluent English speaker (although with an American slant.) It will be an engaging conversation if US president Barack Obama gets around to having one with Velayati on issues of war and peace in the Middle East — and then decide to have a meal together to talk about mice and men.