Mr. President, It is now your turn. By holding credible and trustworthy elections earlier this year and through other recent developments, the Iranian government has taken substantial steps towards reform in Iran. The people of Iran seized the opportunity to elect Hassan Rouhani, a reform-minded lawyer and proponent of normalization 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 days and 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 cooperation 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 program. In the prospective negotiations, President Hassan Rouhani and 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 government of the United States 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 United States 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 President Rouhani’s presence in New York to repair Iran-US relations and thus 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 your turn, 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. A group of Iranian intellectuals, former and current political prisoners and civil society and political activists
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 03:32:51 +0000