The US must seize this opportunity to repair relations with Iran

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/23/us-seize-opportunity-relations-iran

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President Obama,

It is now your turn. By holding credible elections earlier this year and through other recent developments, the Iranian government has taken substantial steps towards reform in Iran (Editorial, 20 September). The people of Iran seized the opportunity to elect Hassan Rouhani, a reform-minded lawyer and proponent of normalisation of Iranian international relations. And as a result, we have witnessed the release of several political prisoners and relative progress in the country's public and political atmosphere over the past weeks. It is often claimed that important decisions in Iran are made, not by the president, but by the supreme leader. But today even the supreme leader is speaking of "heroic flexibility", and Iran is now united to engage in constructive engagement with the world.

The promising trends in our country has set the stage for cutting the Gordian knot of more than three decades of Iran-US alienation – and specifically resolving disagreements over Iran's nuclear programme. In the prospective negotiations, Rouhani and the foreign minister, Javad Zarif, have the support of not only the Iranian government, but also a majority of Iranian voters, as well as a wide spectrum of political and social activists and many political prisoners.

Greater economic and political engagement with the world will be essential in increasing political freedom in Iran. If the US government and the international community fail to seize this golden opportunity, they will aid the cynics of both countries and make it more difficult to believe in the willingness of the US to improve relations. Any success that Rouhani achieves in foreign policy will help his domestic agenda in opening the political, social and economic spheres.

Mr President,We call upon you to take advantage of Rouhani's presence in New York to repair Iran-US relations and improve the regional prospects for peace which requires further cooperation between the two countries. This is an important historical opportunity that must not be exhausted. It is now the turn of the US, and that of the international community, to reciprocate Iran's measures of goodwill and pursue a win-win strategy that encompasses the lifting of the unjust economic sanctions on Iran. Asghar Farhadi, Saeed Hajjarian, Sadeq Zibakalam, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Isa Saharkhiz, Ali Shakourirad, Masoud Behnood, Alireza Alavitabar, Zahra Eshraghi, Trita Parsi, Ahmad Shirzad, Saeed Shariati, Nazanin Khosravani, Parisa Bakhtavar, Mostafa Malekian For a full list see: http://kaleme.com/1392/07/01/klm-159371/

• Now that Syria has agreed to get rid of its chemical weapons (Report, 19 September), an opportunity has arisen to achieve a WMD-free Middle East. Iran would be the first to agree, given its bitter memories of having been at the receiving end of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons. This will require the west, in particular the United States, to pressure Israel into joining the chemical weapons convention and giving up its nuclear weapons. Yugo Kovach Winterborne Houghton, Dorset

• And when will Israel allow its courageous whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu, to leave the country? Benedict Birnberg Ernest Rodker London

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