In 1979, George Lewis was an NBC correspondent in Iran covering the hostage crisis. Thirty-four years later and thousands of miles away, at a Zócalo event co-presented by Occidental College at MOCA Grand Avenue, Lewis asked a panel if the breakdown in U.S.-Iran relations he witnessed firsthand might finally be on the road to repair.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived on an unannounced visit to Egypt as he begins a tour of countries in the region. Mr Kerry, the most senior American official to visit Egypt since the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi in July, will stay only a few hours. The visit comes at a time of tension between Washington and Cairo. Mr Morsi is due to go on trial on Monday.

Soft on the outside, hard on the inside. That may be the best way to describe the often startling contrast between Iran's current foreign and domestic policies. Since taking office in August, President Hassan Rohani has won widespread praise for showing greater flexibility in nuclear talks with the international community.

Saudi Arabia dealt a high-profile snub to the international community and the United States on Friday when it turned down a rotating seat on the United Nations Security Council. The unprecedented move was a culmination of months of public derision directed toward the U.S. for its halfhearted approach to intervention in Syria, its tacit support of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and, most recently, its overtures to Iran.

A series of events in recent weeks has created a widespread narrative that the U.S. is an unreliable ally and a weak partner. First, the U.S. government shutdown forced President Barack Obama to cancel his trip to a couple of Asia summits. Then, new Edward Snowden leaks revealed that the National Security Agency has been spying on up to 35 world leaders, including top U.S. allies like German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The U.S. government seems outraged that people are leaking classified materials about its less attractive behavior. It certainly acts that way: three years ago, after Chelsea Manning, an army private then known as Bradley Manning, turned over hundreds of thousands of classified cables to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, U.S. authorities imprisoned the soldier under conditions that the UN special rapporteur on torture deemed cruel and inhumane.

It hasn't been the best of times — this week, this month, indeed, this year — for American foreign policy. The US looks imbecilic abroad when a few dozen members of Congress can bring the government to a standstill — later striking a compromise that only offers the same hotheads another shot in the new year. Nor, of course, did the amateurish roll-out of Obamacare enhance the reputation of the leader of the free world.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy has offered to mediate easing tension between the Gulf States and Iran during his visit on Saturday to the United Arab Emirates. “The tensions between Iran and the UAE have a negative impact on Egypt, and I am ready to meet any demands from the Gulf Arab states to clear the climate with Iran if needed,” Fahmy said in an interview with Al Arabiya.