If the history of the world is the world’s court of justice, history will rate Obama, the 44th President of the United States, among the top ten of the holders of that high office.

His words might fall short of assuaging all but his visit to Hiroshima is a testimony of Obama being a leader of substance.

While the Iran nuclear agreement will be the primary agenda of the summit, there are expectations that other regional issues will also be raised: the campaign against the Islamic State, removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the ongoing war in Yemen and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Prospects of a solution will hinge on the ability of the two sides to moderate their maximalist positions and the ability of the Obama administration to play the role of an ‘honest broker’.

Indian planners would be cautious about an open US embrace as India does not want to be drawn into a US containment policy, which is how China perceives US rebalancing.

At the core of the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme is the challenge to West Asia’s balance of power from Iran’s growing sphere of influence, which now stretches through Iraq towards the Mediterranean.

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is so dependent on the vagaries of the US political and electoral system that any change in administration in November 2012 would certainly make or delay the implementation of the steps necessary to secure lasting peace.