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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2009, page 65 Waging Peace MEP Panel Address U.S.-Iranian Relations
THE MIDDLE EAST Program (MEP) of the Woodrow Wilson Center (WWC) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology presented a panel discussion on “U.S.-Iran: Lessons from the Past for the Present and Future” on Feb. 27 in Washington, DC. Robert Litwak, current director of International Security Studies (ISS) at WWC, began by stating that “for the U.S. and Iran the nuclear issue has been a surrogate” within a broader context. “Unresolved contradictions have fed the estrangement between the two countries” for decades, he pointed out. In light of competing goals and mixed messages from Washington, Litwak concluded that it’s time to end threatening Iran with regime change, as the Bush administration had done. There is no link to the Iranian nuclear program and a regime, Litwak argued, since nuclear development was also championed by the former Pahlavi monarchy as well. Now that “we’ve had regime change in Washington,” the ISS director noted, “we can bomb or we can negotiate.” A military strike would leave civilian, political, and environmental damage, he said, but would not end the program. Instead, he warned, it would be “viewed as the initiation of regime change,” wherein “the morning after, the U.S. would be at war with Iran.” Journalist and Woodrow Wilson Center Public Policy scholar Robin Wright focused on “how we chart a diplomatic course in the future that takes into account a very messy past.” She proposed a five-step plan, the first step being contact between the two countries to develop statements of general goals, framed in terms of Iranian concerns as well as differentiating the Obama administration from the previous one with a break from the “carrots and sticks” ideology. Secondly, Wright said, confidence building should be sought. She pointed out that during the Iran-Iraq war the “U.S. provided intelligence Iraq used against Iran,” with Iraq’s use of chemical weapons resulting in 50,000 casualties and over 100,000 cases of low-dose exposure. To move on from this history, Wright recommended that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) work with the Iranian Ministry of Health to explore the impact of this event through research establishing precedent for dealing with weapons of mass destruction. Thirdly, the agenda must be defined in both U.S. terms and Iranian terms, Wright emphasized, for only then can regional concerns and commonality be brought to the fore. Fourthly, the road will then be paved for negotiations on more comprehensive and sensitive issues and, Wright concluded, the fifth and final step would be the establishment of direct agreements between Iran and the U.S. John Tirman, MIT’s signatory to the Joint Experts Statement on Iran and director of Persian Gulf Initiative, called for a bolder, new diplomatic approach, citing the failure of recent policy and uncertain prospects for gradualism as an approach to Iran. Despite policies of coercion and the counterproductive “carrots and sticks” approach, Tirman reminded event participants that “the Iranian state appears today to be ever more robust,” partially democratic, and “definitely legitimate.” The Iran expert explained that gradualism is useful for confidence building measures, but will not successfully redefine and redirect the U.S.-Iranian status quo. In light of his critique, Tirman proposes “transformational diplomacy,” wherein Washington would implement new language and dialogue, recognize Iran’s security interests, lift sanctions “quickly and unilaterally,” establish business and trade “linkages,” and ultimately normalize relations through nurturing diplomatic channels. It is “not up to the U.S. to say what Iran should do,” stated former U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Giandomenico Picco. Rather, the Obama administration can alter its policies and approaches to work toward common goals. Picco noted that Iran’s Supreme Leader will accept involvement with the U.S. “if he knows what the end game would mean for his role.” —Nina Hamedani |
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