A breakthrough may have been reached with Iran's nuclear program, according to reports from the Islamic Republic News Agency and the Associated Press.

During two days of talks in Tehran on Monday and Tuesday, representatives from Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (the UN's nuclear watchdog) reportedly finalized an agreement that was previously made between Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, the IAEA secretary general, Mohamed ElBaradei, and the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. The agreement follows on the heels of ongoing negotiations between Larijani and Solana that Solana called "very constructive." Read about the talks here. And in March, the Iranian foreign minister said Larijani's meetings with Solana were helping to materialize a solution.

The agreement reportedly includes a framework -- a plan and timetable -- for resolving the international community's concerns over Iran's nuclear program. It comes a month before the IAEA is scheduled to release a progress report on Iran's nuclear program. A favorable report would keep new UN sanctions from being imposed on Iran.

Yet, Washington opposes the agreement and believes new sanctions should be imposed, according to the Associated Press article. The U.S. fears that the IAEA is giving into Iran -- and just days after the United States labeled Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. Read about it here.

But European nations may see things differently. This Asia Times Online article today reports that European nations -- with the exception of the EU3 (France, Germany and Britain) feel that Iran and the IAEA have reached an acceptable agreement. The EU3 have sided with the United States -- agreeing that Iran is not complying with UN demands -- and, with the U.S., these three have been negotiating with Iran outside of the UN efforts.

Yet, their efforts haven't produced the results Solana's have, causing the Asia Times article to ask and then answer its own question: "Why is the Larijani-Solana duet making progress while other channels are not? The answer is persuasive diplomacy, for Solana has wisely used quiet diplomacy and rationality, rather than the rhetoric of Washington and London."

If Solana's negotiations continue to deliver results with Iran, then it will be interesting to see his diplomatic skills resulting in yet another successful breakthrough -- one others thought was impossible. Solana has a long history of such negotiations, earning him a reputation as a diplomatic superhero. That's why I call him "Solanaman." 

The funny thing is, after I titled this article I found another article my dad had written about Solana by the same name. Read it here. I guess I really rubbed off on my dad. (Ha ha! ... I can tease my him now, and he can't say anything ... at least where I can hear him!)

We're also waiting to see if Solana's Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for Peace will deliver stability to the Middle East.

Staying tuned!