The times they certainly are a-changing, and the first indication that this is indeed the case came from none other than the tough-talking US secretary of state, Madeleine Albright. In a recent address to the Asia Society in New York she spoke for the first time about the possibility of ``bridging the gap'' with Iran. Whatever else she may be, Albright is neither an altruist nor a peacenik. That she spoke the language of reconciliation despite strong, vocal lobbies in her country which are totally opposed to such a move, indicates that there are some important geo-political and corporate advantages to be had from winding down this old legacy of hate. Iran may still be an Evil Empire of sorts, but its geographical location gives it the advantage of being the doorway for Europe into Asia and vice versa. For instance, the rail link between Iran and Turkmenistan is linked in turn to Central Asia and the Caucasus. Besides, there is no getting away from the fact that Iran is drippingin oil. Moderation is rearing its head in Iran too, as the benign visage of its liberalising president, Mohammad Khatami, eloquently symbolises. The country has a great deal to gain from doing business deals with a nation that it still considers the Great Satan. When the Iranian ambassador to the UN, Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, addressed businessmen in Washington recently, mesmerising them with his talk of Iranian pipelines and lucrative contracts, he was only doing the job of an articulate salesman.

For a country that has had to live with US sanctions for several years, Iran should be an interesting case study for India, faced with a similar prospect. By convincingly arguing that US sanctions have hurt the American taxpayer since they have resulted in the domestic economy being denied access to huge stocks of relatively inexpensive Iranian crude, Iran has been able to make significant inroads into American public opinion. After all, nothing talks as eloquently as money. Unless one considers football, of course!