Ex-US officials urge Obama to pursue diplomacy on Iran

On Wednesday, 35 prominent ex-diplomats, military officers and other officials, from both Republican and Democratic camps, asked President Barack Obama to make diplomatic efforts regarding Iran.
 
    "The United States should now dedicate as much energy and creativity to negotiating directly with Iran as it has to assembling a broad international coalition to pressure and isolate Iran," urged the report from the non-partisan group, the Iran Project.
 
 
"Only by taking such a rebalanced approach might the United States achieve its objectives with respect to Iran's nuclear program," it said, noting that direct Iran-US talks would help negotiations between Tehran and the P5+1 group -- the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany.
 
Former Republican Senator Richard Lugar; Michael Hayden, ex-CIA director under president George W. Bush; Ryan Crocker, the former US ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, and former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski were among those who signed the report.
 
The authors pointed out that how the mounting economic pressure imposed by the US-engineered sanctions has failed to dissuade Iran from practicing its nuclear rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), warning that the measures could backfire by drawing stronger resistance from the Iranian side and would lead to "long-term alienation" between the two nations.
 
The report called on the US government to take "active steps" to convince Tehran that it does not seek to overthrow the Islamic establishment, suggesting possible cooperation on Afghanistan, Iraq and anti-drug trafficking efforts as part of a diplomacy deal.
 
The report follows a move by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which adopted a resolution on Tuesday to provide Israel with diplomatic, economic and military assistance in case of a military attack against Iran.
 
The resolution, welcomed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), followed remarks by Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Benny Gantz, who repeated Tel Aviv’s war threats against Iran.
 
In February, the US State Department as well as Vice President Joe Biden floated offers of direct talks with Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program, while the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions to prevent Iran from gaining access to earnings garnered from its crude exports.
 
On February 7, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei rejected the rhetorical gesture and slammed Washington for its dual approach. “You should know that pressure and negotiations do not go together, and the [Iranian] nation will not be intimidated by such things.”
 
The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program with the Israeli regime repeatedly threatening to attack Iran's nuclear facilities based on the unfounded allegation.
 
Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the NPT and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.