Activists in Iran pen open letter to Americans on nuclear deal
More than 50 prominent Iranian dissidents, political reformers and other civil society activists have written an open letter to the people of the United States, urging them to lobby members of Congress to support the Iran nuclear deal.
The signatories to the letter, published Monday, include former members of Iran’s parliament, prominent university professors and a renowned filmmaker. Their public statement could put them at even greater risk for attacks by hard-liners in Iran who do not support the deal.
The Iranian signatories describe themselves as committed to “the values of tolerance, pluralism, human rights and the peaceful relations between nations” and say that the nuclear agreement “holds the promise of the gradual realization of these universal values within Iran, along with the possibility of better relations between our two nations.”
Nader Hashemi, a professor at the University of Denver, helped organize the letter after a conversation with Mehdi Noorbaksh, a professor at Harrisburg University, whose father-in-law, Ebrahim Yazdi, served as Iran’s first foreign minister following the 1979 Islamic revolution. Hashemi said the appeal comes directly from Yazdi and other activists in Iran.
“It’s coming out of the nervousness that they have in Iran at the moment,” Noorbaksh said in an interview, adding that the dissidents see the nuclear deal as their last best chance to foster an Iran that is more open toward the rest of the world.
Among the 52 Iranians who signed the letter are Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, one of the students who occupied the U.S. Embassy in Tehran during the 1979-81 hostage crisis; Mostafa Moeen, a presidential candidate who lost to hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005; and Jafar Panahi, a renowned filmmaker who is currently barred from leaving the country.
If the nuclear agreement is rejected, they write, the consequences are worrisome.
“Economic sanctions against Iran will increase, as will the likelihood of war,” the letter states.
“This would be a catastrophe for the Middle East. Another war in this region would strengthen the forces of extremism and undermine the forces that work for nonviolence, peace and reconciliation; the ripple effects of another war would be felt far and wide, and would destabilize the international system for years to come.”
The letter from the Iranians is one of numerous such missives being released ahead of an important mid-September vote in Congress on the deal, including one message signed by dozens of other Iranianswho oppose the agreement. Earlier Monday, some 75 former members of Congress released a letter endorsingthe agreement.
The Iranian signatories in the latest note end it with the hope that they won’t have to send such letters forever.
“We look forward to a day in the future when Iranians no longer have to write open letters to Americans, but can meet face to face with mutual respect and dignity based on shared civilizational values that bind us together as citizens of this planet,” they write.