Request from Dozens of American Politicians for Improved Relations with Iran

On Monday, July 21, it was reported that over 75 current and former American politicians and senior officials sent a letter to the President of the United States calling for closer relations between the U.S. and Iran. This comes on the same day that news emerged that members of the U.S. House of Representatives intend to prepare and present several new sanctions bills against Iran. According to the American website 'Politico', the letter sent to Barack Obama was initiated by a group called 'Project Iran', and among the signatories are diplomats, military leaders, university professors, and current and former politicians from both major parties in the United States. The signatories of the letter stated that turning away from Iran at this time jeopardizes U.S. interests in the Middle East and could lead to further conflicts in the region for the U.S. The letter, a copy of which was provided to 'Politico', states: 'The United States should adopt policies that increase the chances of cooperation with Iran, minimize confrontation, and influence Iran's actions in the region.' Senior American officials added in the letter: 'We are aware that due to the uncertain political situation in both countries over the next year, the opportunity to test Iran's willingness to cooperate directly with the United States is limited, but we believe that engagement [with Iran] should be a long-term goal for the U.S. government.' The letter also presents a three-part plan to create 'a constitutional structure' for ongoing communication between the U.S. and Iran. Among the proposals from the signatories of this letter is to establish 'an emergency communication channel' between the two governments to avoid misunderstandings or escalating tensions. Another proposal is to create 'a direct and permanent communication channel' between the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Iran's Central Bank to facilitate inquiries regarding the lifting of sanctions. The letter requests Barack Obama to establish 'a direct diplomatic channel at the deputy level' between the two countries so that the next president can influence Iran through it, and it would no longer be necessary for the foreign ministers of the two countries to address issues through personal conversations. The idea of creating a 'crisis hotline' or 'red phone' between the U.S. and Iran has been raised before: for instance, in September 2011, the American newspaper Wall Street Journal reported that this idea was being considered by the U.S. government. The idea of establishing a direct military crisis line with Tehran was raised at that time after several confrontations occurred between American and Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf, which nearly escalated into conflict. The new letter to Barack Obama comes as the one-year anniversary of the signing of the nuclear agreement, the JCPOA, between Tehran and Washington plus five other world powers approaches, and as this date nears, various activities regarding U.S.-Iran relations among American politicians have increased. Among these, the Washington Post reported on Monday that the House of Representatives intends to prepare and present three new sanctions bills against Iran just before the start of its members' summer recess. The main bill, which is supported by Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader, aims to sanction the Islamic Republic of Iran and all countries supporting its ballistic missile program in response to the continuation of Tehran's ballistic missile program. Kevin McCarthy, referring to these new bills in a statement, said: 'The [Obama] administration has shown that it does not intend to hold Iran accountable for its dangerous and destabilizing ballistic missile program and does not intend to do anything to make Iran accountable for its global terrorism activities and the violation of the human rights of its citizens.' Iran has rejected allegations related to terrorism and human rights violations and calls concerns over its missile tests baseless.