Pennsylvania religious leader returns from Iran after meeting with Iranian Vice President : Pittsburgh Indymedia

Pennsylvania religious leader returns from Iran after meeting with Iranian Vice President
by Michael Jones Wednesday, May. 24, 2006 at 5:25 PM
mike@paxchristiusa.org (email address validated) 814-453-4955, ext. 228

Dave Robinson, director of the Pennsylvania-based Pax Christi USA, was part of a religious delegation that sought to start peaceful dialogue between the Iran and U.S. - two countries whose governments haven’t officially spoken in more than 25 years

Pennsylvania religious leader returns from Iran after meeting with Iranian Vice President, as rhetoric between the U.S. and Iran continues to intensify

Dave Robinson, director of the Pennsylvania-based Pax Christi USA, was part of a religious delegation that sought to start peaceful dialogue between two countries whose governments haven’t officially spoken in more than 25 years

Pax Christi USA Executive Director Dave Robinson has just returned from a two-week religious leaders’ delegation to Iran, where he met with Iranian Vice President Mr. Esfandiar Rahim Mashari – one of the only meetings between U.S. religious leaders and Iranian government officials in nearly 25 years. The two-hour meeting with the vice president came at the end of a 12 day tour of Iran, where delegates made personal contact with academics, media representatives, and civil society throughout Iran.

The delegation occurred as tensions between the U.S. and Iran have intensified, as Iran continues to pursue a nuclear energy program. Two weeks ago, the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wrote a letter to President Bush critical of U.S. foreign policy – the first communication between the two governments in more than 25 years.

“We traveled to Iran in order to bridge divides and show the American government that the way forward through this political crisis is to sit in the same room and talk through difficulties face to face,” Robinson told Vice President Mashari in their meeting.

Vice-President Mashari summoned the group for a spontaneous meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in Tehran. It is believed that this is the highest level discussions between a U.S. delegation and the Iranian government in more than 25 years.

Mashari cut short a trip with the Iranian president in order to meet with the delegation. “If you study Persian history, there was never a time in the past three centuries when Iran invaded another country. For eight years, we were involved in an imposed war. In this war by Saddam Hussein, the rest of the world was on the side of Saddam and against us. The U.N. finally announced that Saddam created the war and invaded Iran,” Mashari told the group.

“Even now they [the U.S. and Europe] are talking about our peaceful nuclear technology. They have thousands of nuclear bombs and missiles. Now they are saying you shouldn't even have nuclear technology. If we would go to the top of a mountain and scream and cry out and swear on the lives of all human beings that we don't want nuclear weapons, they wouldn't believe us,” Mashari said.

The faith-based delegation, which included Christian clergy, Muslims and Jews, found common ground with the Iranian vice-president in the desire for increased dialogue and exchanges between the West and Iran. “In light of the current crisis, we insist that our governments enter into face-to-face dialogue immediately,” Robinson said.

The Bush Administration has rejected all calls for dialogue with the Iranian government. Reports by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker have raised serious concerns over the Bush Administration’s planning for military action against Iran, including plans for the use of tactical nuclear weapons against the Iranian uranium enrichment facility in Natanz and storage facility in Isfahan. This religious leaders’ delegation visited both cities during their stay in Iran.

“One of our most moving exchanges came with a dozen young women at an orphanage in Natanz. While the world is focused on the image of the Enrichment Facility in Natanz, it is the face of a young woman named Fatima, who hopes to become a doctor, that I will carry with me as I return to the States," said Robinson. "That is what our delegation came to do, to put a human face on a problem with potentially inhuman consequences.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that no evidence exists that Iran has even a rudimentary weapons program and that all nuclear materials in Iran's fledgling nuclear power program have been accounted for. Numerous proposals for a negotiated solution that would ensure the transparency of the Iranian nuclear program under IAEA safeguards have been summarily rejected by the U.S.

“As conscientious citizens and people of faith we came to Iran to meet with ordinary Iranian citizens, religious leaders and nongovernmental organizations to explore ways of defusing this crisis and overcoming the stereotypes and 'enemy images' that have predominated in U.S. culture and media for nearly three decades,” said Robinson. “We were truly surprised at the unexpected invitation by Vice President Mashari and his frank and unscripted discussion with our group affirms our belief that the path to peace begins with respectful, face to face dialogue.”

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Dave Robinson, contact Pax Christi USA Communications Director Michael Jones at 814-453-4955, ext. 228 (work), 814-490-9378 (cell), or mike@paxchristiusa.org.

Pax Christi USA is a national Catholic peace and justice organization, reaching more than half a million Catholics in the United States. Pax Christi USA’s membership includes more than 130 U.S. bishops, 800 parishes, 650 religious communities, and 300 local groups. Pax Christi USA is a section of Pax Christi International, a global Catholic peace movement with consultative status at the United Nations.

PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center