Thirty-five years after the founding of its Islamic republic, Iran is in the midst of a transformative period, with signs that its relations with the United States are warming in a way that was hardly imaginable when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned here from exile in February 1979. On Tuesday, the Islamic state is expected to mark its anniversary, as it does every year, with massive public rallies and speeches from top officials. But the speech by President Hassan Rouhani is likely to carry a starkly different tone from the defiant addresses delivered by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his eight years as president. “Regardless of […]