US policy paper urges to play nice with Iranians

Amid a surging negative attitude of Iranians toward the United States, a team of former US policymakers has urged the Obama administration to play nice with “ordinary Iranians” by relieving sanctions on humanitarian goods and issuing more student visas.
In a report by a “panel of US experts” that was released on Thursday, Washington think tank Atlantic Council warns the Obama administration that “the popular resentment towards the United States” across Iran has in fact helped the Islamic Republic to avert the intended effects of the massive US-led sanctions, The Washington Post reports on Friday.

Faulting US officials for adopting policies on Iran that have been “mostly about tactics and too little about strategy,” the report, prepared by a bipartisan group of “prominent former diplomats and national security officials,” says “it is time to play chess, not checkers.”

The report was released just a day before the commencement of second round of negotiations in Almaty, Kazakhstan between representative of Iran and the group of P5+1 nuclear nations, consisting of permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the US – plus Germany.

The Post article, then goes on to cite “a senior administration official” that spoke on the condition of anonymity as suggesting that the Almaty talks “might be suspended” if Iran “appears to be merely stalling for time.”

The claim, echoes other US press reports on Thursday that also cited unnamed administration officials as hinting to “suspend diplomacy” and impose more sanctions on Iran in case the Islamic Republic does not a response that US and EU officials expect to hear.

The development comes as the Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei insisted in a recent speech that the American establishment uses negotiations as a tactic and not a sincere engagement, dictating the terms, the questions and the responses.

Referring to the US government as “the center of conspiracy and the basis of hostility towards the Iranian nation,” Imam Khamenei emphasized that “negotiation is an American tactic for deceiving the public opinion and if it is otherwise the Americans should prove it.”

On Iran’s comprehensive negotiations with the P5+1, the Leader of the Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Seyyed Ali Khamenei further insisted that Washington does not want the talks to come to a conclusion, saying, “With regard to the nuclear issue, Iran only wants the recognition of its rights to enrichment.”

Imam Khamenei also cited US claims that they intend to be sincere in their talks with Iran but reminded Washington that “we have repeatedly asserted that we do not seek nuclear weapons but you do not believe this honest word; [so] why should we accept your words?”

The Atlantic Council report further suggests that the trend of popular Iranian resentments against the US “could be reversed with well-targeted policies that ensure that ordinary Iranians have access to humanitarian goods as well as student visas and other programs that promote cultural exchanges between the two countries,” according to the Post article.