Kerry Wants to Visit Tehran

Sen. John Kerry has offered to be the first high-level U.S. emissary to publicly visit Tehran since the 1979 revolution, The Wall Street Journal reports. The White House says it won't oppose the move, but not everyone thinks the visit is a good idea. A White House official said the trip "sounds like the kind of travel a chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee would—and should—undertake," while a professor at George Washington University and former Iranian government adviser said such a trip would send "the wrong message" to Iran. The proposed trip, which Tehran would also have to approve, comes as mass protests against Iran's regime are resurfacing and as a U.S.-imposed deadline to broach international sanctions approaches. The White House has not yet decided whether to make Kerry its official representative if he goes, but a Kerry trip could give the Obama administration one last chance to reach out directly to Iranian leaders before moving to derail Iran's nuclear programs with sanctions.