Since before the time of the overthrow of the Mosaddegh government in 1953, the Iranian people have reacted with skepticism and distrust to the West. After the overthrow, this skepticism and distrust extended to America as well. Despite a brief interlude of a positive outlook towards America around the time of the Kennedy Administration, this skepticism and distrust increased again, was a major factor in the 1979 Revolution in Iran and continues to this day. While Israel and the plight of the Palestinians continues to be a focal point of Middle Eastern tensions, America has seen its ability to influence events in Iran and across the Middle East diminish even further over the past seven years as a result of the inept foreign policy of the current Administration. However, despite tensions between America and Iran, we must always remember that the Iranian people remain our friends, and they ache for change in their own country.
In stark contrast to current Administration policy, America must use every tool of international relations possible to reduce tensions, prevent nuclear proliferation and achieve a peaceful two state solution for the Palestinian people in order to regain our standing in the Middle East. There are two fundamental failures of the Administration that must be reversed in order to achieve these goals with respect to Iran. First and foremost, America needs a logical, coherent foreign policy that other nations like Iran can understand. Secondly, America needs to utilize all political means, especially diplomacy, that are available to us to foster the change desperately needed in our relationship with Iran.
America’s relations with Iran over the past six years have provided nothing but confusion. The horror of September 11 touched people around the globe. In fact, on September 12, hundreds of thousands of people held candle light vigils in the streets of Tehran in support of the United States. This fact coupled with the behind-the-scenes assistance given to America against the Taliban in Afghanistan, created hope in many quarters that the ice might be thawing between America and Iran and that relations between our two nations might have a new beginning. However, after this show of support and assistance to America, the shallow saber rattling of the Bush Administration soon began. Iran was termed a member of the so called "Axis of Evil", forcing the Iranian government to reevaluate its position with respect to America, and showing it that positive steps would not be rewarded.
Since that time, the Administration has abjectly refused to engage in anything other than an "our way or the highway" policy with respect to Iran, among other nations. Administration policy, coupled with the triumph of the conservative clerics in Tehran, have led to a hardening of Iran’s position towards the West. Now the Iranian government is developing a nuclear program, has increased tensions with Israel and shored up its support for militias in the Middle East. None of these developments advance peace in the region, and none will reduce tensions between America and Iran. Furthermore, cavalier threats of bombing and annihilation of a nation's people do nothing but ratchet tensions even higher.
In international relations, nations must be able to use all of the options available to it in order to influence other nations' activities. The Administration's fundamental failure has been to take diplomacy off of the table. Without direct talks with Iran, the kind of talks that were rebuffed by the Administration in 2003, we lack the full ability to influence Iran to step away from the harsh rhetoric, the support for militias and its nuclear program. The world is more dangerous for it, and America is weaker for it.
America needs a new approach to Tehran that ultimately must come from a new Administration. This approach must begin with direct, high-level diplomacy, and must include every other tool that nations use in international relations. But what we must remember as Americans is that neither the carrot nor the stick work independently of each other; all of the tools of international relations work most effectively when nations engage one another.
