In the wake of several recent developments, hopes for untangling the Gordian knot between Iran and the United States that emerged with Hassan Rouhani’s election are gaining momentum.

Chief among them is the exchange of letters between the presidents of the two nations, initiated by President Barack Obama. While a decade-long confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program has spiraled into a perilous stage, this rare opportunity for settlement cannot be missed. However, misunderstanding the Iranians’ position and constraints could severely threaten the rapprochement sought by both sides.

The simple truth is that Rouhani should be offered sensible sanction relief to be able to persuade Iran’s leadership for concessions on its nuclear program. A piecemeal approach will not work. As a former Iranian politician told Al-Monitor, “The United States should be ready to give big if it expects to get big.”

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after years of mostly uninterrupted opposition to direct talks with Americans, has endorsed the concept of “heroic flexibility” in relation to the United States. The reference is to a book that he translated from Arabic 44 years ago which analyzed the strategy chosen by the second Shiite Imam to make peace with an adversarial ruler, Mo’avieh, in the seventh century.