With Madeleine Albright now heading the foreign policy team, a change is possible but far from certain. For the moment, caution is the guiding principle. The Clinton Administration decided that the project, which would carry gas from Turkmenistan to Turkey, does not technically violate the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. News reports have cast the Administration's decision as a gesture of reconciliation and an easing of Iran's isolation. U.S. officials, however, insist that it does not signal a change in policy.
Some former officials believe otherwise.
Some analysts are saying that a breakthrough, or even a moderation, in relations with Iran could become one of the major foreign policy achievements of the Clinton presidency. This view reflects the diminished hopes for success of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Iran and Israel The Iran-Israel relationship is long and complicated, with periods of overt and covert alliances. Israel is currently concerned about the military threat posed by Iran and the Iranian practice of supporting, or at least encouraging, violent opposition to the peace process by Hamas and Islamic Jihad and by Hezbollah in Lebanon. He believes Iran's anti-Israel position may be primarily intended to irritate Washington.