Letter from American Professors Supporting the Nuclear Agreement and Requesting the Release of Political Prisoners

Peace and justice in the region, freedom and the elimination of discrimination within countries. The Middle East has been trapped in the grip of corrupt repressive regimes, ethnic, religious, and gender discrimination, occupation and apartheid, terrorism, and military aggression. In this context, foreign military intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen has led to social collapse, ethnic and religious wars, rampant growth of Islamist terrorist groups, widespread instability, the practical disintegration of countries, and the killing, wounding, and displacement of millions of innocent people. Powerful governments in the world and the region have brought the Middle East to this state. The arms race and weapons of mass destruction are other issues in the Middle East. Against this backdrop, Iran's nuclear case has also become an important issue. Western governments, led by the United States, imposed the most severe restrictions and inspections beyond international laws in the nuclear agreement with Iran, blocking all possible pathways for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. If Iran's potential acquisition of nuclear weapons constituted the main concern of Western governments, with the nuclear agreement resulting from a preference for dialogue over conflict and peace over war, this path was completely closed, and everyone should welcome it. However, if the goal of some is to change the regime of the Islamic Republic through the most severe sanctions in history and war, they will likely not achieve this goal through this agreement. Thus, the nuclear agreement, in terms of achieving its intended purpose, which is to guarantee Iran's peaceful use of nuclear energy, with the imposition of long-term 'exceptional' restrictions and monitoring, is completely effective and defensible. Only warmongers can oppose this agreement. If this agreement is rejected by the U.S. government, America will be isolated in its confrontation with Iran in the world. The Middle East desperately needs stability and peace so that the people of this region can enjoy the right to life. Without security and peace, there will be no life, let alone development, democracy, and human rights. The Middle East needs peace and non-discrimination, and historical root issues cannot be resolved with double standards. A package must be prepared that includes guarantees of existing borders of countries, guarantees of collective security of countries, the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel within the 1967 borders, the cleansing of the entire region from weapons of mass destruction, collective combat against terrorism with a unified meaning, not double standards, the denial of military intervention, and so on, and it should be converted into a binding UN resolution. Any plan that divides countries into allies and non-allies and acts with double standards to benefit allies and harm non-allies is doomed to failure from the outset. Unjust actions should not be approved when carried out by allies and condemned when carried out by enemies and rivals. Double standard policies have led to the systematic violation of human rights by non-elected allied governments such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and so on being overlooked. The people of the Middle East are also in dire need of civil rights and freedom. However, the disastrous experience of military intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and so on has shown that military methods cannot facilitate the transition from repressive dictatorships to democratic systems committed to freedom and human rights. There must be social preconditions for democracy in a country for the transition to democracy to be possible. The Islamic Republic is also one of the dictatorial regimes that systematically violates human rights. The educated society of Iran, with 4.5 million students, 60% of whom are women, ranking 22nd globally in scientific production, 7th globally in nanotechnology, a powerful intellectual current, a broad middle class, and the Green Movement, is more prepared than all the countries in the region for a peaceful transition to a democratic system committed to freedom and human rights. Nevertheless, critics and opponents are suppressed and imprisoned by the Islamic Republic. In other words, the Iranian democracy-seeking movement is trapped in a regime that both wants and can suppress opponents. However, social developments in Iran are weakening this desire and ability. If the Islamic Republic claims that ethics, justice, and freedom are the basis of its politics and governance, it must release all political prisoners (especially the elderly leaders of the Green Movement: Engineer Mir Hossein Mousavi [74 years old], Zahra Rahnavard [70 years old], Mehdi Karroubi [78 years old]) and ideological prisoners on this basis. If the Islamic Republic is only concerned with its survival and increasing its power, a system without political and ideological prisoners that recognizes the freedom of speech and behavior of opponents will increase its legitimacy, bargaining power, and durability. If Ayatollah Khamenei writes to the youth of Europe and North America to refer to the Quran independently of the Islamophobia industry and to understand the human and moral teachings of the Prophet of Islam and to seek the truth so that others do not introduce their hired terrorists as representatives of Islam, which is the truth of Islam, reason, mercy, and freedom, not ignorance, violence, repression, and terrorism, it is better to demonstrate that his message and claims are true, not false political slogans, by freeing all political and ideological prisoners, democratizing the political structure, and eliminating ethnic, religious, and gender discrimination. If the Islamic Republic claims to be popular and to have mutual trust between the people and the government, it should not fear the release of dozens of political and ideological prisoners.