A few days after I wrote the piece on Iranian.com criticizing Bush’s administration of conducting brainless diplomacy towards Iran a piece of news came up that although it was refreshing but was unkindly neglected by the media. Am I surprised by US media’s behavior? Not at all!
However this time, it was Robert Gates, United Stated Secretary of Defence that made the news. At his speech at American Academy of Diplomacy he urged more nongovernmental contact between Iran and the US that might eventually open a pathway to more substantive dialogue between the governments.
I don’t need to remind you that Robert Gates is one of the most powerful members of the Bush administration. I see his speech as an indication that US is not willing to engage with Iran in a war. However “Willing” is a concept, it is an idea that has not been formed or materialized yet and as long as it is contained in somebody’s head it is hard to recognize its effectiveness. On the other hand there are two gigantic Navy Carriers right under the nose of Iran along four UN resolutions against Iranian people which are more of evident signs that contradict Mr. Gates’ goodwill for Iranians.
All in all, I am an Iranian and still get fooled by a microscopic act of kindness. So please join me to ask Mr. Gates to substantiate his idea of “opening a pathway” with Iran. I am not looking for giant steps towards normalizing Iran-US relation and I take Mr. Gates’ words in the same content, “the time (for normalizing the relations) is not right”. But in continuation of his (or perhaps this administration’s) new initiative we need to ask them to take a very small step down this new path and ask Mr.Gates (or the administration) to use his/their influence and power to facilitate the process of reinstating direct flights between the US and Iran.
Am I asking too much? Maybe yes maybe not. It depends how paranoid the two involved governments are. But restoring the US-Iran direct flights is the minimum, smallest, and direct requirement for materializing the virtual idea of “opening a pathway”. Except Mr. Gates meant email pathway, which is different story. So don’t get surprised if I use from this point on the words “opening a pathway” and ‘reestablishing direct flights between US and Iran’ interchangeably.
As some of us might still remember, , the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization formally requested from US authorities to reinstate direct frights between two countries. Although it later got rejected by the US but this showed that Iran much earlier was willing to start opening the same pathway that US Defence Secretary is acknowledging now. I don’t want to know what has been going on behind the scene. What I see as an ordinary observer is that, Iran has shown her willingness towards a positive path and later US has come to the same conclusion even after some delay. This is a good thing and let’s build on it before this opportunity gets lost among other thousands aborted opportunities.
Nevertheless, there are many odds against this idea of “opening pathway”. They are mainly coming from the involving parties themselves and surprisingly some other noninvolved countries. For example, Iranian government has backed off many times from its proposals, denying completely any requests, suggestions, and help that they had offered through their “secret channels” to the US. This means there is no guarantee from Iranian side to still reconsider their earlier request for reestablishing the direct flights.
On the other hand, Mr. Gates can easily and completely ignore his earlier call or dismiss its relationship with the concept of direct flights. Or perhaps he can accept the idea of “opening a pathway” initially and then ditch the idea of ‘direct flights’ by throwing more rocks on its path. Or Whitehouse spokesman takes the burden of dismissing the idea all together as we have long seen this ritual during last seven years, or many other or’s. I also don’t need to mention that there are many countries or companies that benefit from the conflict between the US and Iran.
But this is half of the picture. The idea of “opening a pathway” and starting the ‘direct flights’ as its immediate outcome, might sound too naïve, childish, or primitive to some of you but you should know that there are many people, countries, and companies that don’t benefit from the US-Iran conflict.
In addition, a small but robust action can penetrate the icy wall that has been created and become stronger by day in the last 30 years. Therefore there is nothing wrong in believing that this minute action can not only happen but it can lead into greater goods and worldwide peace. As Barak Obama said “And if one voice can change a room, one voice can change a city. And if one voice can change a city, one voice can change a state. And if one voice can change a state, one voice can change a country. And if one voice can change the country, one voice can change the world”.
Let us try one more time and let us all ask through any channels available to us to give a momentum to this idea and break this vicious cycle in Iran-US relation with a small but solid step. We don’t have to wait till Barak is in office. Tomorrow might be too late. So I ask Mr. Gates and I sincerely ask all of you to find a way to raise your voice with me:
Dear Mr. Gates, Iranian people are the sole protective of Iranian regime. However, we as any other people on earth love democracy and freedom. Let us see clearly who the main obstacle against Iranians’ will towards democracy is. You offered “opening a pathway” with Iran and Iran had offered the same in the past. Idealistic policies towards Iran had failed and will fail. But what people of both countries need at this time are practical policies. A gradual but concrete approach towards Iran is what Iranians and Americans need now.
A sensible and solid initial approach that seems to have an appropriate ground to grow on is to reinstate direct flights from Iran to the United States and visa versa. Among its many benefits, it will greatly ease the pain of elderly Iranians that take up the vast numbers of Iranian visitors to the US and facilitate what has been an excruciating pain of traveling through intermediary countries and going through different agencies while adding more costs to already high prices of air tickets.
On the other hand this will bring the same benefits to American visitors who have already been through extremely-hard-to-obtain Iranian visa process. This also will take the extra loads off the shoulders and gives one less thing to think about for researchers and scholars who are planning to visit either of the countries.
Finally, I might laugh one day to the immaturity of this letter for touching a problem that has such a complex background. I know some of its complexity because since I was a small kid I have sat in and watched the rollercoaster of Iran-US relation for the past 30 years. Therefore I am gravely hopeless and helpless that my small voice will ever reach as high and distant as you are but life has thought me if not many but one great lesson: No matter how dark, large, and convoluted the problem is, give it a try, one more time!
