HILLARY CLINTON OPENED DOOR TO KEY U.S. SHIFT TOWARD IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL:  {FIRST VIEW:Bill Clinton Extolling the Virtues of North Korean Nuclear Deal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TcbU5jAavw  } Hillary Clinton, in her last months as secretary of state, helped open the door to a dramatic shift in U.S. policy toward Iran: an acceptance that Tehran would maintain at least some capacity to produce nuclear fuel, according to current and former U.S. officials. In July 2012, Mrs. Clinton’s closest foreign-policy aide, Jake Sullivan, met in secret with Iranian diplomats in Oman, but made no progress in ending the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. In a string of high-level meetings here over the next six months, the secretary of state and White House concluded that they might have to let Iran continue to enrich uranium at small levels, if the diplomacy had any hope of succeeding. Mrs. Clinton left the State Department in early 2013. Later that year, in the midst of international talks, the Obama administration agreed publicly that Iran could continue to enrich uranium, completing the shift in policy that had been set in motion before Mrs. Clinton left her post. Mrs. Clinton’s role in this critical early debate hasn’t been previously reported and shows that Democratic presidential front-runner and her top aide, Mr. Sullivan, were key players in the Iran deal. Given united Republican opposition to the deal, the issue is likely to be central in the 2016 election. Jay Solomon and Laura Meckler report  9-9-15