American-educated Iranians write letter protesting Trump’s anti-Iran stance

A group of Iranian graduates of some of the best American universities in various academic areas and subjects, given their knowledge of and familiarity with the American people, have written and undersigned a letter protesting US President Donald Trump’s aggressive anti-Iran stance and policies which, as admitted by the people of the country themselves, are against humanity.
The letter reads:

“We, the undersigned, a group of Iranians educated at American universities in various academic areas and subjects, are writing this protest letter to express our strong opposition to the current aggressive, confrontational posture and policy of the Trump administration towards Iran. President Trump, Secretary Pompeo, and other high-ranking members of the administration have recently adopted and pursued a highly pretentious public policy of making irresponsible political pronouncements, coupled with naked military threats, against Iran and the Iranian government. Mr. Trump’s recent tweet on devastating military action against Iran with “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered” is indeed without precedent in modern history.

The US open belligerence, even if couched in demagogic jargon of so-called support for the Iranian people, ridicules all recognized and respected principles and sanctity of international law, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter, including in particular Article 2.3 and 2.4. Naked interference, in different forms, by American officials in the internal affairs of Iran, a sovereign state member of the international community and a founding member of the United Nations, clearly violates the statutory obligations of the American government under the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights as well as the 1981 Algiers Accords between the two countries.

The capricious and unacceptable US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement (JCPOA), in May 2018, has given the administration an excuse to make absolutely ridiculous and unjustifiable demands from the Iranian government on a host of critical domestic and regional issues and areas. The American officials do not even conceal that the thrust of the ongoing escalating drive is to exert pressure on the Iranian economy and incite public anger in the vain hope of achieving ‘regime change’ in Tehran. To this end, the Trump administration has cast its lot with such strange bedfellows as those who organized and paid for the 9/11 crime against the American people: well-placed, government-supported rich Saudi and UAE citizens.

Unabashed increased support for the infamous terrorist organization MKO on the Saudi-Israeli payroll – only delisted by the Department of State as a terrorist group in 2012, and now paying such administration figures as Rudy Giuliani, national security advisor John Bolton, and former House speaker Newt Gingrich – is now part of a three-pronged anti-Iran policy coordinated by Washington. The full-fledged US efforts to pressure other countries to cut down financial and trade relations with Iran and stop buying Iranian oil in order to strangle the Iranian economy are thuggish and bullying tactics, immoral in essence. Equally, these measures and pressure tactics, which are seriously challenged on the home front and detested universally, represent a travesty of the longstanding principles and shared values governing relations between and among civilized states since the 17th century, in the Westphalia Treaty era – let alone in the early 21st century.

The current hostile American posture towards the Iranian government reflects a bizarre, sick mentality, driven by personal hatred, a barrage of insults, sheer demagoguery, looking tough, and delusive. It sounds surrealistic but true that Mr. Trump appears to act on personal grudges against the Iranian people arising from his failed attempt in 1978 to set up a luxurious casino at the Caspian Sea shore in Iran. In their blind, simple-minded campaign, Mr. Trump and his administration are totally oblivious to “currents and counter-currents in Iranian history and political life” – as sarcastically derided by a seasoned American diplomat.

The delusional American onslaught is essentially apathetic to the basic rights, interests, and welfare of the Iranian people and only seeks to misuse and manipulate existing grievances in the Iranian society. American reliance on the MKO terrorists and the anti-Iran Saudi-Israeli axis merely betrays maliciousness and a whimsical mentality in the White House. The Trump administration’s ratcheting up of the anti-Iran campaign is not a policy, much less a coherent, feasible strategy; it is a dangerous gamble with potentially catastrophic consequences across the board, for Iran and Iranians, for other countries and peoples in the Middle East region, and for Americans, to be pushed by an adventurist administration into the quagmire of another costly, failed ‘war of choice.’ The disastrous situation in Afghanistan, and more so in Iraq and the consequent creation of other violent groups, show the ugly reality of hegemonic American military adventurism.

As conscious citizens of Iran we are proud of our rich millennial civilization and our Iranian-Islamic dynamic and peace-loving culture. We are deeply committed to the defense of our national identity, political independence, and territorial integrity. The Internal affairs of Iran, inclusive of the issues, problems, and complicated dynamics of governance are the sole domain of Iranian interest and concern and will have to be sorted out within the Iranian society, without any kind of foreign interference, meddling and intervention. The long history of our country since antiquity bears witness to the deeply embedded and strong national patriotism of the Iranian people, especially blossoming in the face of foreign threats, pressures, and aggression.

As Iranians, we are also concerned about safeguarding the national security of our beloved country in an otherwise unstable and conflict-prone neighborhood. We are equally concerned about the welfare, prosperity, and progress of our people in a fast-complicating world and look forward to the future of a fully-functional democratic governance in a stable, peaceful regional environment, free from external hegemony and domination. We are deeply unhappy about the lamentable state of relations between Iran and the United States and express the earnest hope that the two states will find it expedient and beneficial to their respective positions and interests to move in the direction of resolving their outstanding differences in a level-playing field without taking refuge in futile, self-serving and mutual suspicion, recrimination, accusations, and threats.

As a group of highly-educated Iranians with direct familiarity with and appreciation of the American society and its culture, cherished values and dreams – now totally divorced by a populist administration – we believe the far-sighted elite of the American society can – and should – play a more active role in preventing the current administration from resorting to military action against Iran and Iranians. They should instead work hard to contribute to mending fences between the two countries. Only dialogue between the two sides will serve to diffuse a potentially dangerous, destructive, and unnecessary war. The moment to act is here and now.”