U.S. Foreign Policy Experts Praise Obama’s Diplomatic Outreach to Iran

October 10, 2013, Washington, D.C. – A bipartisan group of 35 senior security experts, intelligence officials, former diplomatic and military leaders, and policymakers sent a letter to the White House on Monday, praising President Obama’s diplomatic efforts to achieve a resolution to the nuclear impasse between the United States and Iran. The signatories included PAAIA Board member Hamid Biglari and Public Policy Advisor Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as former Deputy Secretary of State John Whitehead and Lee H. Hamilton, former member of the House of Representatives and current member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council.  

The letter acknowledged that the road to a diplomatic solution will be difficult, given that “decades of distrust and lack of contact between the two countries” will complicate the process of reaching an agreement that provides the U.S. with adequate assurance that Iran’s nuclear program will be completely peaceful, and that in addition, the president will “undoubtedly face opposition” for opting to talk to the Iranian government. Nevertheless, the letter maintained that “the diplomatic option is the right one at this time in view of the initiatives taken by the Iranian government that were made possible in part by your past policies.”

The letter was published by the Iran Project, which seeks to improve official contacts between the American and Iranian governments. It was started in 2002 by the United Nations Association of the USA and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and became an independent project under the auspices of the nonprofit organization “Foundation for a Civil Society” in 2009. 

Click here to read the letter.