President Khatami?  How is there no mention of president Khatami? He was president before Ahmadinejad and he and his reformist friends were making serious efforts to establish relations with the U.S. Things were going alright until Bush took over and declared Iran part of the axis of evil. This ironically destabilized the reformists and Khatami and allowed the neoconservative radical party of Ahmadinejad to take over who are more hostile to the U.S. and more friendly towards terror.  