Like the lifting of the ban by Washington on Indian mangoes, perhaps pistachios can serve as the basis of a new bilateral round of talks
The following is my posting today on G2K, a Web list maintained by Prof. Gary G. Sick of Columbia University:
My first taste of Iranian pistachios was in December 1971, when an Air India flight I'd taken from New York to Bombay (now Mumbai) made an unexpectedly lengthy stop in Kuwait. Unbeknownst to passengers, the war between India and Pakistan had started, one that eventually led to the liberation of the erstwhile East Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. Passengers were herded into what was then a dilapidated shed that masqueraded as a terminal. Among the "duty-free" items available were tiny tins of Iranian pistachios. I was hooked.
I found out later that there was a flourishing pistachio trade between Iran and India. And despite the embargo on Iranian goods to the United States, it's possible to buy them at select stores in New York, particularly in Queens and Manhattan, where Indian groceries sometimes market them. Having just spent several months in the Gulf, I indulged myself in Iranian pistachios there.
What a pity that politics comes in the way of trade. Maybe a new round of talks -- overt or covert -- between Washington and Tehran should carry the moniker of "Pistachio Diplomacy." A bit like the "mango diplomacy" between India and the United that led to the lifting of the long-standing ban in the U.S. on Indian mangoes, and also contributed to warmer political and commercial relations between the two powers.