My must read is "Kerry, Hagel: U.S. won’t be fooled by Iran," in the Washington Post:
Comments here from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John F. Kerry forcefully defending engagement were the first high-level U.S. answer to a blistering rebuke delivered Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader warned that the West is being fooled by the new, friendlier face of Iranian leadership that is being offered by President Hassan Rowhani.
"I did not interpret Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comments as suggesting that we are being played somehow for suckers," Kerry said. "I understood it to be a warning; don’t be played." […]
"Engagement is not appeasement, it’s not surrender, it’s not negotiation," Hagel said. "Aren’t we wiser if we can find ways to resolve disputes, recognizing the danger, being very clear-eyed and keeping the strongest military in the world?"
For starters, how do you peacefully defuse a nuclear program when the man in charge of that program denies seeking a nuclear weapon? And when, furthermore, he has declared Iran’s "right to enrich is nonnegotiable"?
Engagement is not necessarily appeasement, but these talks are based on a nonsensical premise: that the new Iranian president is a great moderate and representative of a more open Iran.
Iranian presidents are figureheads. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has all of the power, and has held the position since 1989.
It’s far more likely that the Ayatollah realized the hardline taken under Ahmadinejad’s presidency was a hindrance to Iranian interests and decided to give the Western world the face they long for.
The moderate, accessible President is an image Ayatollah Khamenei has crafted. To participate in his farce would be appeasement.