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Friends United
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July/August 2007
Forging Interfaith Dialogue
By Joe Volk
As political tensions between the United States and Iran mount, we at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) see an increasing danger of an accidental war between our two countries. Despite appeals from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, major world leaders and many other responsible voices, the U.S. government has remained resistant to direct, bilateral diplomatic talks with the government in Iran. As chances of a diplomatic relationship between our countries seem to dissolve into angry words, Iran’s potential role in helping to bring stability to Iraq, to Palestine and Israel and to the region, dissolves as well.
I traveled to Iran in late February as part of a delegation of 13 U.S. religious leaders with the hope of beginning a dialogue between faith groups in the United States and the government and people of Iran. Our delegation was a diverse group of Christian leaders from the United Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical, Quaker and Mennonite traditions. The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), which has 17 years of experience in Iran, opened the way for our visit and partnered with the American Friends Service Committee to convene and administer the group.
As Christian leaders, our delegation traveled to Iran out of a belief that it is not God’s will for the conflict between the United States and Iran to accelerate toward war. We believe that by talking to people of faith, government leaders and other Iranians, we can establish bridges of understanding between our two countries.
First American Group in 28 Years
“You are the first American delegation invited by the president to visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since the Revolution ... in fact, you are the first American group to be in this room in 28 years,” our Foreign Ministry host, Aliakbar Rezaei, told me as we waited for Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Europe and the Americas, Dr. Said Jalili, to speak to our group. In our meeting with Dr. Jalili we discussed Iran’s nuclear program, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the deteriorating situation in Iraq and Iranian views on the Holocaust and Israel’s future. We came first to listen and to hear the official positions of Iran, but we also made clear what we believe and recommend. As they say in diplomatic circles, we had a free and frank discussion. No discussion in Iran can leave out a review of the U.S. role in Iran. For most people in the U.S., the history of U.S.- Iran relations begins with the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the deposing of the Shah and the holding of American hostages for more than a year. Virtually every U.S. documentary and news story on Iran runs the iconographic video or photos of the swarm of revolutionaries taking the massive, downtown Tehran U.S. embassy. For Iranians, the history of U.S.-Iran relations goes back at least to the CIA’s overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Mohammed Mossedegh in 1953, the installation of a monarch, the Shah, and years of U.S. support for his dictatorship and the use of Iran as a regional military ally to contain the Soviet Union and shield U.S. access to Persian Gulf oil. Then, after the Shah’s fall, the U.S. supported Saddam Hussein’s invasion and eight-year war with Iran—the so-called “dual containment” strategy. Our delegation of U.S. Christian leaders stood in the gap between these two narratives: a U.S. wronged by Iran’s Islamic revolutionaries and an Iran wronged by U.S. imperialism.
Forging Interfaith Dialogue
Our meetings with Iranian religious leaders allowed us to engage in dialogue with both Christian and Muslim clerics about U.S.-Iranian relations and the role that faith communities can play in promoting peace between our two countries. Our first such meeting was with Archbishop Sebu Sarkissian, the head of the Armenian Orthodox community and an Islamic scholar. “You have already begun (building bridges) by your visit to Iran. The most important thing is that you are here,” he told us. “There will be no peace among nation-states unless first there is dialogue among religious leaders of those states.” Later, Ayatollah Kashani, a former member of the Guardian Council and a very important leader of the Islamic community in Iran said, “...there is no problem between the people of Iran and the people of America; we are both believers in God and accept Jesus as a prophet.”
Encountering Quakers
On arriving in Qom, the religious capital of Shiite Islam, I was pleasantly surprised to find Linda Kusse-Wolfe and David Wolfe. They are Friends and have just begun an assignment in Qom with the Mennonite Central Committee. David told me that his father had once worked with Friends Committee on National Legislation! Linda said that she and David look forward to keeping in touch with what is happening in the U.S. by remaining connected to FCNL using the Internet.
Later, at the Institute for the Study of Religion, where our delegation participated in an interfaith dialogue, we took time to talk informally with faculty and students. When I asked one of the students where his scholarly research would focus he said, to my surprise, “I’m making a study of Quakers.” He had no idea I was a Quaker and, when I told him, his face lit up. “Oh, wonderful,” he said. “You can help me to find out what books I should read!” I told him that I could do better than that, and I immediately introduced him to Linda and David. I have a feeling they will get to know each other well in the coming years.
Meeting the President
As we prepared to meet with President Ahmadinejad, my mind scrolled through the images we have of this man, who is example number one in the U.S. arguments for war. Those in the U.S. who want to promote enemy images of Iran only have to show a photo of President Ahmadinejad shaking his finger at a crowd while he stands beside a huge banner that says, “The world without Zionism.”
President Ahmadinejad clearly has not taken the first essential step toward a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the recognition and acceptance of the State of Israel. No number of soothing words about Iran accepting Jews but rejecting Zionists will remove the threat that his public stance on the world stage presents to Israel, an ally of the U.S.
When we finally met, I had the impression of a very smart man who takes time to think and to discuss ideas but also of someone who demonstrates how wide gaps in understanding grow when discourse is cut off for 28 years. Here are the major points I took from the meeting:
• Negotiations: Iran will talk with the U.S. anytime, anywhere, if the U.S. will first show “good will.” I interpreted “good will” to mean three things: (a) the U.S. will set aside its goal of regime change in Iran and deal with the current regime, (b) the U.S. will let go of its demand that Iran first comply and then negotiate over its nuclear program and (c) the U.S. would show respect for Iran by changing its posture toward Iran from domination to cooperation.
• Iraq: Iran wants to join Iraq, the United States and other neighbors of Iraq to find a way to stabilize the country and enable a responsible, face-saving withdrawal of U.S. forces.
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Iran is willing to negotiate with the U.S. to implement a non-military, peacefully negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The president said directly to us that there is no military solution—only a political process can result in a stable and just peace with security for both peoples.
• Nuclear program: Iran will not acquire nuclear weapons and will never have a nuclear weapons program. President Ahmadinejad said that Iran will comply with its legal obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) full-scope safeguards, and with the additional protocol for intrusive inspections. They reject the UN Security Council’s demand that they suspend enrichment of uranium, which they believe is not a legal demand.
Peace is Possible
The real work of our delegation has begun now that we are back in the United States. Upon our return, we participated in over two dozen meetings with members of Congress to report on our trip and voice support for legislation (S.759 and H.J.Res. 14) that would require the administration to obtain congressional approval before taking military action against Iran. We stressed our firm belief that more people-to-people exchanges between the U.S. and Iran would help to de-escalate the current confrontation. We were pleased to find among legislators from both major political parties great concern to prevent a possible war with Iran and a desire to pursue a diplomatic resolution.
We hope that the governments of Iran and the United States will use our delegation’s practice of hope as a model and as an occasion for them to take the next steps—tentative though these steps may be—to signal a willingness to engage in direct talks toward a new relationship. The lives of ordinary people in Iran and the U.S. depend on effective action now. Fortunately, we have found that diplomacy is possible, if only our government will try it.
More of Joe Volk’s reflections on his trip to Iran are found at www.fcnl.org/iran. A report from the Iran delegation on the PBS series, Now, with David Brancaccio can be viewed online at: www.afsc.org/iran.
Joe Volk, Executive Secretary for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, has more than three decades experience working for peace and social justice. A major focus of his work at present is an effort to build support in Congress for a dramatic change in U.S. Middle East policy that would include engaging Syria and Iran in negotiations on Iraq and other regional issues, withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and promoting U.S. diplomatic initiatives with Iran as an alternative to U.S. military action. For more on FCNL, got to www.fcnl.org.