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The Financial Times


February 20, 2013 10:44 pm


Boldness in face of Iran-US mistrust


From Mr Fariborz S. Fatemi.


Sir, In your editorial “Iran’s intransigence”
(February 15), you claimed rightly that the “message needs to be clear
if ... Iran is to be encouraged to negotiate”. Unfortunately, neither
side’s message is clear. And, side actors do their share to muddy the
waters.
In the same week that the US vice-president Joe Biden repeated the offer that the US is prepared to hold bilateral talks,
Washington announces another round of “crippling sanctions”. And
while,for months, rumours fly that there may be bilateral talks brewing
and the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, announces his
government’s willingness to hold talks, the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, in a cryptic message, rejects such talks. The level of mistrust is immense and continues to grow.

There are elements on both sides that do not want any talks to be
held and certainly not to succeed. However, one thing is clear: it is
not in either country’s national security interest to have this
hostility of decades go on and on, especially with its potential for
numerous unintended consequences.


The US and Iran share many interests. And with peace in the balance,
leadership on both sides must act boldly, wisely and take risks to allow
diplomacy to succeed.


Fariborz S. Fatemi, McLean, VA, US; Former Professional Staff
Member, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Foreign Relations
Committee