Contents of September 2024 Advocacy Bulletin
- Questions for President Pezeshkian, by Paul Barker
- Iranian Politics
- US Policy
- Legislation
- Impressions of Iran Today, by a frequent visitor
- Iran-Israel
- Region
- Sanctions
- Economy
- Media
- Human Rights
- Environment
- Nuclear News
- History
Questions for President Pezeshkian
Note from the editor, Paul Barker
Last month the PCIA Advocacy Bulletin shared a letter and article which we had sent to President Biden urging him to embrace the opportunity for new diplomatic openings which exist with Iran following the election of President Pezeshkian.
Next week President Pezeshkian will be traveling to New York to participate in UN General Assembly meetings. It is anticipated that he will also hold side meetings with diplomats and journalists. What messages would we wish to communicate and what questions should be asked of President Pezeshkian?
Finding an alignment of political will and interests in both Iran and the US is often elusive. The closest the two countries have come to improving relations strained by decades of mistrust and missteps was during the presidencies of Obama and Rouhani and resulted in the historic nuclear non-proliferation agreement, the JCPOA. That opening was slammed shut by President Trump and has so far remained largely shut during the Biden administration. With the new openness demonstrated by the election campaign of now President Pezeshkian and the changes that will be ushered in by the upcoming US presidential election, it is timely to explore the avenues and boundaries of any potential diplomatic opening.
So President Pezeshkian, we would like to ask:
- With your new administration in Tehran, is there a genuine opportunity to begin to repair relations between Iran, the US and Europe?
- Recognizing the US is in a volatile election season, what public actions might the outgoing Biden Administration take that would be well received by the Iranian people?
- What public actions might your administration take that might be well received by the American people?
- Is there a way to restart direct contact and negotiations between the US and Iran, getting around the cumbersome indirect communications through third parties?
- Recognizing that American views on Iran tend to be polarized and that neither President Biden nor Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump will be able to make public declarations of new openings with Iran before the November 5 election, are you nonetheless open to preliminary talks on frameworks to de-escalate tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and its arms exports to Russia and various countries and militant groups in the region?
- How do you think the Iranian export of missiles and drones to Russia is and should be viewed especially in Europe but also in US.
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