Support from 44 American University Professors for the Nuclear Agreement with Iran

44 professors from universities such as Harvard, Princeton, McGill, and MIT signed a letter written by Akbar Ganji, published on the Huffington Post website, supporting the nuclear agreement between the so-called P5+1 countries and Iran, calling for the establishment of "peace and justice in the region, freedom, and the elimination of discrimination within countries." The letter states: "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 such a context, foreign military intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen has led to social collapse, ethnic and religious wars, the unchecked growth of Islamist terrorist groups, widespread instability, the practical disintegration of countries, and the killing, wounding, and displacement of millions of innocent people. The powerful governments of the world and the region have brought the Middle East to this state." The letter continues: "The arms race and weapons of mass destruction are other issues in the Middle East. Against this backdrop, Iran's nuclear file has also become an important issue. Western governments, led by the United States, imposed the most severe restrictions and inspections beyond international law, blocking all possible pathways for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons through the nuclear agreement." The letter asserts: "If the potential acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran was the main concern of Western governments, the nuclear agreement, which resulted from a preference for dialogue over conflict and peace over war, has completely closed this path, and everyone should welcome it. However, if the goal of some is to change the regime of the Islamic Republic through the harshest sanctions in history and war, they will likely not achieve this goal through this agreement. Thus, the nuclear agreement is entirely effective and defensible in terms of achieving its objective, which is to guarantee the peaceful use of nuclear energy by Iran, by imposing long-term 'exceptional' restrictions and monitoring. 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." "A Stable and Peaceful Middle East Free from Double Standards" The authors of this letter wrote: "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 the historical root issues cannot be resolved with double standard policies." Regarding ensuring peace in the Middle East, the letter states: "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 and not double standards, the rejection of military intervention, and other matters, which should be turned 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 others being overlooked. The authors of this letter stated: "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, and Yemen has shown that military methods cannot facilitate the transition from repressive dictatorships to democratic systems committed to freedom and human rights. Preconditions for social democracy must exist in a country for a transition to democracy to be possible." The letter continues: "The Islamic Republic is also one of the dictatorial regimes that systematically violates human rights. The educated society of Iran, with four and a half million students, 60% of whom are women, ranks 22nd globally in scientific production, 7th globally in nanotechnology, has a strong intellectual current, a broad middle class, and the Green Movement, is more prepared than all 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 movement is trapped in a regime that both wants and can suppress opponents. However, social developments in Iran are moving towards weakening this desire and ability." "Leaders of the Green Movement and political prisoners should be released" The authors of this letter state: "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: 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. The letter states: "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 ethical 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, rationality, 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 releasing 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. This letter is signed by Akbar Ganji and university professors such as Noam Chomsky, Peter Singer, Richard Falk, Fred Dallmayr, Hilary Putnam, and Lydia Gohar.