And when will there be a minimum understanding between Americans and Iranians?

Historian John Ghazvinian, author of a history of relations between the United States and Iran, explains that the first American to make contact with the Iranians was Joel Roberts Poinsett, in 1807. Poinsett is described as a "gentleman from South Carolina," a doctor who used his family's fortune to see the world. He had even dined, in Saint Petersburg, with Alexander I, Tsar of Russia. The article remains incomplete, cutting off mid-sentence about what may have led Alexander I to encourage this approach between Americans and Iranians.