But Farideh Farhi, an author and scholar on Iranian and comparative politics, says Iran-U.S. relations are too volatile for any one person to accomplish much.
"There were moments where Dr. Amirahmadi had strong influence during President Khatami, Clinton and Secretary Albright, but I don't see it at this point, " Farhi said.
That is a thesis explored by Ricardo Caballero and Emmanuel Farhi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas of the University of California, Berkeley.
"All these people who have come to act as mediators in this process have really not been able to place things in the directions that they should go, " said Farhi, an independent scholar who is on the graduate faculty at the University of Hawaii.