U.S. and Iranian officials will meet in Baghdad to discuss Iraq’s future
Quaker lobby hopes U.S. and Iran will continue and expand talks
For immediate release: May 15, 2006
U.S. and Iranian officials announced Sunday that delegations from both countries will soon meet in Baghdad to discuss ways of improving Iraq’s security. The Friends Committee on National Legislation welcomes this new opportunity for dialogue between the United States and Iran, but the Quaker lobby is concerned that the continued exchange of threats and insults between U.S. and Iranian leaders could offset recent diplomatic progress and undermine negotiations.
The U.S. and Iran agreed to the talks, which will focus exclusively on Iraq, after an anticipated Cabinet-level meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki failed to come to fruition at the conference of Iraq’s neighbors in Egypt in early May.
Iraqi officials have enthusiastically endorsed the upcoming meeting, stressing that improved relations between the U.S. and Iran is a key step toward stabilizing Iraq. Lee Hamilton, co-chair of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which in December recommended diplomatic engagement with Iran and Syria, also applauded the decision to hold talks but stressed that negotiations must expand to include top-level officials and discussion of Iran’s nuclear program.
We at FCNL are concerned that at a moment when the U.S. and Iran are opening to diplomatic engagement, remarks by Vice President Cheney and Iranian President Ahmadinejad during their respective Middle East tours have not reflected the recent shift in U.S.-Iranian relations.
In a speech delivered aboard one of two U.S. aircraft carriers currently deployed in the Gulf, Cheney warned that the U.S. will “stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region.” While Ahmadinejad has publicly endorsed the newly-announced talks on Iraq, he responded to Cheney’s comments by threatening retaliation in the event of a U.S. military attack. Iran has also continued to insist on its right to enrich uranium to use in electric power generation and has not complied with United Nations Security Council demands to suspend their nuclear activity. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency argues that the focus of the international community should be on negotiations to persuade Iran to keep its nuclear program within the safeguards established by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“The upcoming talks between U.S. and Iranian officials is a promising step toward more open relations between our two countries, but both governments need to ratchet down the rhetoric and commit to more expansive, face-to-face negotiations that cover both the situation in Iraq and the ongoing disagreement over Iran’s nuclear program,” said FCNL Executive Secretary Joe Volk.
Volk traveled to Iran in late February as part of a U.S. religious delegation. The group, which met with President Ahmadinejad and other Iranian political and religious leaders, returned to the United States with a proposal that the U.S. and Iranian governments immediately engage in direct, face-to-face talks and promote more people-to-people exchanges among religious leaders, members of Congress/Parliament, and civil society.
For more on Iran: http://www.fcnl.org/iran
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The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the oldest registered religious lobby in Washington, is a non-partisan Quaker lobby in the public interest. FCNL works with a nationwide network of tens of thousands of people from every state in the U.S. to advocate for social and economic justice, peace, and good government. For more information: http://www.fcnl.org
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