131 House Members Sign Dovish Letter on Iran

131 members of the House, including 114 Democrats–a majority of the conference in the House–and 17 Republicans, have signed a letter to Barack Obama asking the president to engage with the newly elected president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani. Read the text of the letter below:

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And in a recent issue of the STANDARD, Reuel Marc Gerecht notes Rouhani's past writings on Iran's nuclear program. “In his writings, Rouhani has confessed candidly that negotiations for him were designed to split Iran’s adversaries while advancing the nuclear program,” Gerecht wrote. “Since 2005, when his two years as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator ended, Rouhani has spent much time defending his work, arguing that Iran’s atomic quest could have advanced with less economic damage if he had been in charge. He still defends his successful effort to convince the supreme leader to do something he didn’t want to do—temporarily suspend uranium enrichment—in 2004.”

At a time when many experts believe only the real threat of military force can now stall the Iranian nuclear program, it will be interesting to see if Obama administration policy moves along the lines of this letter or whether the administration is willing to increase pressure on the regime to its nuclear weapons program.

Read the full article here.