[Dialogue] U.S. Religious Leaders to Visit Iran

Sat Feb 17 12:49:38 EST 2007

Published on Friday, February 16, 2007 by Inter <http://www.ipsnews.net>
Press Service 

U.S. Religious Leaders to Visit Iran 

by Guthrie Gray

WASHINGTON - Amid rising tensions between their two countries, a group of
U.S. religious leaders will leave Saturday for meetings with Iranian clergy
and political leaders, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Tehran
next week. Participants in the 13-member U.S. delegation, organised by the
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and the Philadelphia-based American
Friends Service Committee (AFSC), said their purpose will be to foster
dialogue. 

"We are making this trip hoping it will encourage both governments to step
back from a course that will lead to conflict and suffering," said Mary
Ellen McNish, general secretary of the AFSC. 

Hostility between the two nations reached new heights recently as U.S.
President George W. Bush this week renewed accusations that Iranian
intelligence is supplying bombs to anti-U.S. militias in Iraq, and continued
to build up its military forces in Iraq and the Gulf. 

The weeklong visit will attempt to build on a New York meeting last
September between U.S. religious leaders and Ahmadinejad, in which the harsh
language between the two countries formed a central part of the discussion. 

In response to a question regarding the slogan of certain Iranian
protesters, "Death to America," the Iranian president said, "There was no
cause for anger as they are not addressed to the American nation but to the
aggressive, unjust, warmongering and bullying U.S. policies." 

Ahmadinejad himself, however, has become a focus of enormous controversy as
a result of his questioning of the Holocaust. 

"As we did at the meeting in New York, we intend to continue to engage the
president on his statements regarding the Holocaust," said McNish. "The
Holocaust is a historical fact and one of history's greatest human
tragedies." 

At the same time, however, the organisers expressed the hope that their
meeting with Ahmadinejad would not dominate the media attention on their
trip. 

"There is a great risk that our goal to encourage improved relations between
the people of Iran and the U.S. will be overshadowed by controversy
surrounding President Ahmadinejad," said Ron Flaming, international
programme director of the MCC. 

Although the group's schedule remains a secret for security reasons, the
organisers expect to meet with former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami,
Muslim and Christian religious leaders, and female members of parliament,
the Majlis. 

In addition, the organisers believe that the U.S. delegation will be allowed
to meet with Ayatollah Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi who has been characterised as a
close spiritual adviser of President Ahmadinejad, and an opponent of Iran's
reformists. They will also meet with Iranian Evangelical Protestant leaders
and the Archbishop of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Iran. 

"We think it is important to connect with a range of people in Iran, and
that's why we included the various groupings of people we have," Flaming
told IPS. "So while the president is an important piece, that's not the only
reason we're going. We're religious people going to establish bridges with
Iranian people. We are not politicians." 

Following the trip, the delegation will meet with members of the U.S.
Congress to share its findings and discuss ways to reduce tensions between
the two countries. 

"We are hearing new concerns from members of Congress about President Bush's
escalating confrontation with Iran and President Ahmadinejad's escalating
confrontation with the U.S.," said Joe Volk, executive director of the
Friends Committee on National Legislation, and a member of the delegation. 

Despite growing calls in Congress for the Bush administration to engage Iran
diplomatically, the White House has so far ruled out any negotiation until
Tehran freezes its enrichment of uranium, a key part of its nuclear
programme. 

Iran's refusal so far to do so, as well as Bush's recent charges of Iran's
intervention in Iraq, has fueled tensions between the two countries. Iran
insists that its enrichment programme is permitted under the
Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

The FCNL's representative on the delegation stressed that the Quaker group
opposes all efforts toward nuclear proliferation.

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