Former U.S. Congressman Jim Slattery became one of the only former elected U.S. officials to travel to Iran last month, where he came away from meetings with senior Iranian officials optimistic about prospects for reaching a nuclear deal that would enhance the interests of the United States and its allies, including  Israel, he told Al-Monitor.

“I believe we have a historic opportunity,” Slattery, who represented Kansas in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995, told Al-Monitor in an interview Jan. 2. “I believe the leadership in Iran and the U.S....all want to pursue a negotiated resolution of this problem around the nuclear issue, and I believe a deal is reachable.”

 “It is going to require some give on both sides, but I think it is reachable,” he said, adding that a nuclear agreement “would be good for Iran, it would be good for the U.S. and … Israel, and it holds the promise of fundamentally realigning the Middle East.”

Slattery, a former six-term Kansas Democrat, traveled to Iran December 9-10 to address the international "world against violence and extremism" (WAVE) conference, an initiative of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The Topeka Capital-Journal first reported on his trip Jan. 2.