Iranian Civil Society to US: Don't Let Your Government Clear Path to War
Iranian civil society activists, artists, and scholars are reaching out to the people of the United States with an urgent appeal: Don’t let your government reject the nuclear deal, and thereby clear the path to war and devastating sanctions.
“We are deeply concerned about the consequences that might result from the rejection of this nuclear agreement,” reads an open letter, which was released Monday and signed by 52 prominent pro-democracy campaigners, professors, film-makers, poets, and former members of parliament. “Economic sanctions against Iran will increase, as will the likelihood of war. This would be a catastrophe for the Middle East.”
“Another war in this region would strengthen the forces of extremism and undermine the forces that work for nonviolence, peace and reconciliation; the ripple effects of another war would be felt far and wide, and would destabilize the international system for years to come,” the letter warns.
Nader Hashemi, the director of the University of Denver’s Center for Middle East Studies and co-editor of The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future, told Common Dreams the letter came together after “some prominent Iranian pro-democracy activists, intellectuals, and reformists sent a message to their friends and contacts in the United States expressing concern over the debate here in the United States on the nuclear accord.”
The hope is that the letter “could shape the debate in some positive way,” explained Hashemi.
Open letters have been a commonly used tool to influence discourse as Congress nears its key vote on whether to approve the deal, which was reached between Iran, the United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the European Union in mid-July. As per recently-passed legislation, the U.S. House and Senate were given a total of 60 days to review the final accord, and the final vote could take place as soon as September 9.
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