Historic agreement would be a monument to the US and Iranian leaders � hence both men are being undermined by their conservative rivals

Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani make an unlikely double act. But as negotiators from the US and Iran race towards the 31 March finishing line for a nuclear deal, this odd couple�s destinies have become inextricably linked.

The long-running saga of Iran�s standoff with the west has become a tale of two presidents. It is plain that Barack Obama is rooting for a positive result in Lausanne next week when negotiators make a final attempt to reach a comprehensive agreement on Iran�s suspect nuclear programme.

Attempts to thwart him by opponents, at home and abroad, only seem to have�increased the president�s determination. Obama does not want a nuclear deal alone. He wants to bring Iran in from the cold, bridging the rift begun after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the ensuing US embassy hostage siege in Tehran that all but destroyed Jimmy Carter�s presidency. If he succeeds, his achievement could dwarf the recent rapprochement with Cuba that ended an even longer period of estrangement.

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This article was written by Simon Tisdall�for The�Guardian on Mar. 22, 2015.�Simon Tisdall is an assistant editor of the Guardian and a foreign affairs columnist. He was previously a foreign leader writer for the paper and has also served as its foreign editor and its US editor, based in Washington DC. He was the Observer's foreign editor from 1996-98.