24 U.S. experts call on Obama to adopt ‘diplomacy-centric approach’ toward Iran

TEHRAN,Dec.22(MNA) – In a letter to the White House, 24 U.S. experts on Iran have called on President Barack Obama to change its attitude toward the Iranian nuclear issue, emphasizing that diplomacy, and not further sanctions, will produce the best results. Arguing that further sanctions “are unlikely to stop Iran’s nuclear pursuits,” the 24 experts, including a number of senior former U.S. officials, whose professional careers have often been marked by dealing firsthand with the Iran issue, have called on the White House to pursue realistic, serious, and sustained negotiations with Tehran, the Christian Science Monitor reported on Thursday. The December 6 letter, which was made public recently, suggests that a diplomatic deal can ease the West’s greatest fears about Iran’s nuclear program - but only if Washington revises its position in nuclear talks that are expected to resume within weeks. The latest round of high-level talks between Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) was held in Moscow on June 18 and 19. Part of the letter read, “A diplomacy-centric approach is the only option.” Success will require “reciprocal” steps and an “appropriate and proportional paring back of international sanctions on Iran,” they wrote. The letter proposes a deal that Tehran has signaled repeatedly in the past year it is willing to accept, given the right circumstances: stopping production of 20 percent enriched uranium, and allowing a more intrusive inspections regime. In exchange, Tehran wants recognition of its right to enrich for peaceful purposes and a lifting of sanctions. But the appeal to Obama comes as Congress prepares to enact further sanctions against Iran in coming days. And news reports indicate that the U.S. has already decided not to fundamentally change a negotiating stance, rejected by Iran in previous rounds of talks this year, which demands Iran make concessions before the U.S. entertains any prospect of sanctions relief. Overall goals for the U.S. and other members of the 5+1 group, the letter advises, should be “restricting – not permanently suspending” Iran’s enrichment levels to below 5 percent. “We encourage you to direct your team vigorously to pursue serious, sustained negotiations with the Iranian government,” the U.S. experts wrote, adding, “With greater determination, creativity, and persistence,” a deal with Iran is within reach. Among the signatories are ranking former U.S. diplomatic officials Thomas Pickering, James Dobbins, John Limbert, and Chas Freeman. They include Rolf Ekeus, the Swedish former director of UNSCOM in Iraq, former senior British diplomats Sir Richard Dalton and Peter Jenkins, as well as other European ambassadors, and big names from the U.S. military and intelligence, Gen. Joseph Hoar, Brig. Gen. John Johns, Larry Korb, and Paul Pillar. The letter was organized by Daryl Kimball at the Arms Control Association and Trita Parsi at the National Iranian American Council, both based in Washington. Barbara Slavin wrote in Al-Monitor, a Middle East online news publication, on Wednesday, “Following U.S. presidential elections, U.S. officials began mulling a more generous proposal but have settled for a conservative position.” Slavin added, “Iran will be expected to agree to concessions before knowing exactly what it would get in return.” The “refreshed” proposal would lift a ban on spare parts for Iran’s aging jetliners, and include technical assistance for Iran’s civilian nuclear program, “but no specific promise of sanctions relief,” Al-Monitor reported. On December 14, the Washington Post quoted a senior U.S. official saying that Iran might be “ready to make a deal,” but that the basic offer had not changed: “The package has the same bone structure, but with some slightly different tattoos.” The paper reported that U.S. officials said the deal held out the eventual possibility of a “grand bargain,” in which sanctions could be eased and “permanent limits” set on Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has rejected the offer before, and some Iran analysts suggest that such an “all sticks and no carrot” proposal – as it is seen in Tehran – is unlikely to result in a deal.