The redoubtable Laura Rozen reports that Dennis Ross has added Ray Takeyh and Ben Fishman to his team. Tayekh wrote, with coauthor Vali Nasr (now on Holbrooke's team) that "Iran is not, despite common depictions, a messianic power determined to overturn the regional order in the name of Islamic militancy; it is an unexceptionally opportunistic state seeking to assert predominance in its immediate neighborhood. Thus, the task at hand for Washington is to create a situation in which Iran will find benefit in limiting its ambitions and in abiding by international norms. Dialogue, compromise, and commerce, as difficult as they may be, are convincing means...Engaging Iran while regulating its rising power within an inclusive regional security arrangement is the best way of stabilizing Iraq, placating the United States' Arab allies, helping along the Arab-Israeli peace process, and even giving a new direction to negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. Because this approach includes all the relevant players, it is also the most sustainable and the least taxing strategy for the United States in the Middle East. " Fishman was Ross's special assistant at the Washington Institute.