Iran's Reformers (3)

Visa update:

I understand that last Friday, a day after my blog on the visa problems of Iranian reformers appeared, Abdolkarim Soroush received an email from the visa section of the U.S. embassy in Berlin informing him that it will issue a visa for him if he advises about the purpose of his visit and his new itinerary.

Did the blog hit a nerve? When I asked the State Department about the timing of the news, an official involved with Iran policy said "the timing in any visa case was a coincidence." But the official added that TIME's initial approach to the State Department three weeks ago asking about the reasons for the visa problems may have had an impact. The official noted that by U.S. law all visa requests from citizens of countries that are officially designated as state-sponsors of terrorism must undergo a sometimes months-long security review that is out of the State Department's hands.

The State Department, contrary to the fears of some Iran-watchers, clearly wants it known that it does not have a policy of keeping leading reformers out of the U.S. as a means of stifling discussion with moderate Iranian voices. That's good news for Americans who are hungry for more information about Iran from Iranians themselves. We'll continue to keep an eye on how this plays out in practice.

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo