US figures urge more Iran engagement
More than 75 high-profile current and former US political and military personalities have written to US President Barack Obama, advising that he pursue deeper engagement with Iran.
Politico reported the development on Monday, saying the letter was penned by bipartisan signatories.
“Given the stakes, the US will need more, not less, engagement with Iran,” they wrote, Press TV reported.
The figures include retired Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), and Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.), as well as former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), it revealed.
Also among the signatories are former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill McPeak and Nobel Prize winners Leon Cooper and Burton Richter.
“The US should develop policies that increase the chances of cooperation with Iran, minimize confrontation,” the letter read.
“We acknowledge that opportunities will be limited for testing Iran’s willingness to work directly with the US due to the political uncertainties in both countries in the coming year, but engagement should be the US government’s long-term goal.”
It urged the creation of a direct diplomatic channel, with deputy foreign ministers at either end, which would obviate the need for the countries’ top diplomats to contact one another. It also suggested the creation of a contact regime with “emergency communications capability.”
Politico reminded that the next US president could reverse any trust-building measure which Obama could potentially take toward the Islamic Republic.
On June 14, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei pointed to the threats by some US presidential hopefuls to scrap the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), saying the Islamic Republic will strongly respond to any such move.
“We will not violate the JCPOA, but if the opposite side violates it — as US presidential candidates are currently threatening to tear up the JCPOA — if they tear up the JCPOA, we will burn it,” the Leader stated.
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