 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
March
5, 2007
VOL.
45, NO. 5Oakland,
CA
Pax Christi
official:
U.S. needs diplomats who know religion in Iran
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Diplomats who understand the religious
sensibilities of Iran are needed to act as translators between Iranian
and American officials to resolve peacefully the dispute over Iran’s
nuclear weapons program, said the executive director of Pax Christi USA.
“We have seen no evidence in this (U.S.) administration to practice
any skilled” diplomacy, Dave Robinson said after a Feb. 26 press
conference by U.S. Christian leaders who had returned that morning from
a weeklong trip to Iran. Pax Christi USA is affiliated with Pax Christi
International, a Vatican-recognized Catholic peace movement.
Iranian society is “a deeply devoted society and culture”
of Muslims, and the administration of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
is “particularly pious,” he said.
U.S. President George W. Bush “doesn’t understand this language”
of a country where religion and society are one, and diplomatic solutions
can be lost in translation, Robinson said.
The Iranian president “was much more comfortable talking with us
as religious leaders,” he noted. Ahmadinejad said he wants to discuss
Iran’s nuclear program, Iraq and resolving the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, but only if the dialogue is “under fair conditions”
and Iran and the U.S. “engage as partners,” said Robinson.
Young professionals in the Iranian government “recognize their future
and their children’s future is riding on what happens in the next
few months,” and “they all hope for normalized relations,”
he said.
Robinson said that while he was in Iran, television programs were full
of footage of the Iranian military.
“Iranians are holding nationwide war games,” he said. Both
Iranian and U.S. ships are in the Persian Gulf.
“There is always a mistake when you lead with the military instead”
of diplomacy, he said, because one miscue can escalate into a larger conflict.
Though Iranian Christians do not feel jeopardized now, “if the U.S.
moves militarily against Iran, they would be in great danger from fanatics
who associate Christians with the West,” he said. “When the
West acts, the fallout falls on them.”
Christians in Iran make up less than 2 percent of the overwhelmingly Muslim
country.
Robinson was the only Catholic member of the Christian delegation, the
first American group that has met with an Iranian president in Iran since
its 1979 revolution. The delegation members, who also included representatives
of the Mennonite, Quaker, Episcopal and United Methodist churches, had
been invited to visit Ahmadinejad in Iran when they met with him in New
York City in September. Robinson was also part of a 25-member delegation
that traveled to Iran in late May.
The February delegation’s goal was to discuss important issues with
Iranian officials while showing them that an American delegation can listen
to their responses respectfully, Robinson said.
The religious leaders were encouraged when Ahmadinejad clearly stated
“Iran has no intention to acquire or use nuclear weapons,”
according to a statement released at the press conference.
The statement also said the delegation was encouraged to hear the Iranian
president say “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be solved
through political, not military means.”
Delegation members were to meet with U.S. officials March 6-7 to report
on their trip.
Robinson said he is unsure how receptive U.S. policymakers and other officials
would be, although before the trip some officials had expressed their
support.
Robinson said Ahmadinejad gave him a “clear and strong response”
about his willingness to accept the Iraq Study Group’s recommendation
that Iran join an international support structure for Iraq’s stability.
Robinson said Mohammadi told him Iran “made an offer but never got
a response” from the United States about the recommendation.
