Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January-February 2009, page 55

Waging Peace

“Can Obama Untangle the Iranian Challenge?” Ask Iran Experts

	Trita Parsi, president of NIAC, says President-elect Obama will have opportunities to succeed with Iran (Photo N. Hamedani).

THE NATIONAL Iranian American Council (NIAC) held a Nov. 18 policy conference in Washington, DC to unveil a Joint Experts’ Statement proposing recommendations for U.S.-Iranian relations.

“The time for a new Iran policy is now—30 years of isolation and threats have done nothing to change Iranian behavior and advance U.S. interests,” said NIAC president Trita Parsi. “On Iran, President-elect Obama has a great opportunity to change failures of the past to successes of the future through dialogue and negotiations.”

The Experts’ Statement was introduced during NIAC’s first panel, comprising Ambassador James Dobbins, former assistant secretary of state and currently with the RAND Corp.; Dr. Farideh Farhi, professor of political science at the University of Hawaii; and Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund. Authored by 19 prominent experts on Iran, the statement listed the five key steps Washington can implement for effective diplomacy with Iran as follows:

1. Replace calls for regime change with a long-term strategy for communication and diplomacy.
2. Support human rights legitimately and not through interference as “democracy promotion.”
3. Allow—if not welcome—Iranian involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and the region.
4. Approach the nuclear issue within broader U.S.-Iran relations and forego focusing on preconditions.
5. Act as an honest broker for Arab-Israeli peace.

Ambassador Dobbins reminded the audience that “insanity has been defined as continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result.” Although “a dialogue with Iran will not lead to immediate results,” he added, “it always produces information” that can lead “to a better range of choices and better policies.”

“Listen, deadlines and red lines do not work with Iran,” Dr. Farhi asserted, and the U.S. fundamentally lacks a basic understanding of the Iranian political system and history, which has contributed to its current ineffective policies.

According to Cirincione, President-elect Barack Obama “will walk into the Oval Office and sit at a desk brimming over with crises [as]...possibly the worse inheritance in U.S. history.” For Obama, Cirincione continued, normalizing relations with Iran—seeking multi-lateral engagement, a clarification of intentions, and  the opening of a U.S. Interests Section in Iran—will be on his must-do list.

The panel was followed by special addresses by Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). Declared Tierney: “Today marks the dawn of a new day for the people of the U.S. and Iran... gone are the days of bellicose statements like the ‘axis of evil.’”

Regarding U.S. diplomacy with Iran, Senator Specter stated: “We’re ready, willing and able. And I think that it’s going to happen.” And indeed we will all be waiting for change and watching the new administration.