The minimum you must know

President Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran’s July 2024 election to replace President Ebrahim Raisi shortly after the former leader’s helicopter was destroyed accidentally (in the middle of his second term). Newly elected President Pezeshkian is leading on peace. (His predecessor had a similar attitude. Former President Raisi’s steady leadership style and calming influence are already missed by more than just his Iranian constituency. He is remembered fondly by world leaders globally and other colleagues at the United Nations.) President Pezeshkian started his presidency with a statement about Iran playing a unifying peace making role in the region:

”As nations endowed with abundant resources and shared traditions rooted in peaceful Islamic teachings, we must unite and rely on the power of logic rather than the logic of power. By leveraging our normative influence, we can play a crucial role in the emerging post-polar global order by promoting peace, creating a calm environment conducive to sustainable development, fostering dialogue, and dispelling Islamophobia. Iran is prepared to play its fair share in this regard.”

Iran doesn’t have a challenge deterring. Decades of patterning in NATO news ensured Iran’s credibility as a formidable adversary.

The United States started to improve relations with Iran until events in Israel surprised all sides in the United States. The Biden-Harris administration said they’re ready for a comprehensive peace deal - as shown in the image below. And former President Trump said nearly the same thing. He appeared on Fox News (on March 17, 2024) and said he wants Iran to sign the Abraham peace accord, too.

There’s an Israeli plan to rebuild Palestinian neighborhoods into a modern Gaza city that can be given to Palestinians under the control of Islamic countries friendly to all sides. Iran therefore can help resolve the matter easily simply by calling for all Palestinian political parties to be included in this or any other peace deal.

Sanctions relief isn’t as important to Iran as NATO governments seem to believe, because the U.S. didn’t use to seem to Iran to keep its word from U.S. administration to administration. And the United States has an unfortunate reputation with other countries in the region for taking accounts of ordinary people through sanctions during decades of interventions there. Iran also doesn’t need permission to trade because Iran trades freely with a majority of the world’s population already. Iran is becoming very successful without integrating the population with Europe and the United States yet. The country also prioritizes other values far before economic ones. So NATO shouldn’t expect to influence Iran with promises of financial gain. The Iranian government views itself as a protector of impoverished people throughout the Middle East and Asia. But new free trading opportunities and generosity from Europe and the United States are still symbolically important - and therefore an important way NATO and Iran can achieve improving relations. Many people in western countries believe sanctions relief is the right attitude for everyone to have towards a population that deserves the most opportunities possible and government that’s a genuinely potential partner in peace.

Europe doesn’t want more disgruntled immigration from the region, and prefers for people to have opportunities in all home countries instead. Europe is overwhelmed already.

(The Iranian government has benefitted a lot from an exclusionary attitude from NATO, because it forced the Iranian people to innovate independently. Iran has quietly/humbly advanced far further and faster than western governments seem to believe. Iran has advanced fast enough to be one of the most desirable alliances at the United Nations. NATO has underestimated the possible benefit to NATO of improving relations. NATO has also underestimated the benefit of encouraging competing countries such as Iran to rely upon western innovation. It’s still a tremendous missed opportunity.)

Iranians are deeply ethical and always generously help less fortunate states, sometimes including ones that aren’t giving the same treatment in return. Israel, Europe and the United States are all deterred by a country that would love to be able to openly help everyone.

There is significant economic progress in Iranian-U.S. relations in 2023. This writer understands the United States returned $6 billion to Iran that was held by the United States. There is a $10 billion sanctions waiver benefitting Iran in Iraq as well. And this writer understands that a neutral intermediary country aligned with Iran will continue to use all of these funds for the benefit of the Iranian population. If true, this was an exemplary and courageous decision for peace.

This was the right thing for President Biden to do for peace. The release of six Americans was created as a rationale. And they are safely home. This writer hopes this was the much needed breakthrough in U.S.A.-Iran relations. Further peaceful normalization is in the interest of the populations involved.

Iran knows how to deter better than most countries because Iran was forced to by NATO to deter when NATO incorrectly attributed public safety incidences to other countries that had no involvement in creating them. Iran had to look fierce and become that way to some extent to avoid foreign intervention. Iran became a completely credible competitor. But the truth is that Iran is peaceful. All countries have come to view Iran as formidable and unpredictable - and consequently desirable security alliance. But Iran has always made a phenomenal consistent effort for peace. The sensitive and compassionate side to the Iranian government and people is often visible in the government's communication strategy. Iran can’t resist revealing the integrity of everyone involved from time to time including in communication. Iran cares deeply about peace with ALL other countries.

Iran has strived for great relations globally for decades with diplomatic outreach throughout the region and beyond. Iran used government media appearances to successfully improve relations with rival Saudi Arabia with U.S. help, for instance, which brought peace and calm to Yemen recently. Iranian officials have also participated in perhaps a hundred peace talks regionally. For instance, Iran orchestrated a real and lasting peace between Iran's friendly neighbor Syria and their "rival" country Turkey. (This represented a tremendous diplomatic accomplishment for the entire region, because Iran and NATO were essentially negotiating peace with each other through intermediary countries.) Iran is well known to keep its word (even when other countries aren't as reliable). Iran also has a reputation at the United Nations for integrity. Therefore, the country is usually invited to peace talks by other countries in need of helpful diplomacy.

The Supreme Leader of Iran Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei created a peaceful burgeoning liberal democracy in his country. It's modeled after the ones in Europe and the United States. There is a parliamentary voting system very similar to the British one. Although he has final say, the democracy has become an excellent system that Iran uses to select the entire rest of the government. It gives the population the opportunity to choose all of their own public servants and policies. The democratic system has also taught the population how to integrate into and work in other democratic ones.

Although the Iranian and United States governments aren’t ready to form an alliance, the truth is that they easily could. They share the same values and have a similar desire for peace. The Iranian government repeatedly says that it cares about "peace, freedom and justice." These are precisely the same values the Biden-Harris administration has extolled in public presentations. And the Iranian government created the same peace, freedom and justice that's enjoyed throughout the United States. There is consequently a tremendous opportunity for mutual understanding and lasting peace between the great nations.

The Iranian government also fully supports minority rights, which are important to the Biden administration in evaluating U.S. - Iranian relations. Iran has more progressive minority rights than anywhere else in the region. Women wear whatever they want. And people of various ethnicities enjoy full and equal rights, and participate equally in industry and government. There was a Jewish member of congress, for instance. There is a burgeoning Jewish population in Tehran.

Islam is the official religion in Iran. The Iranian government therefore convinces the population there to participate in democracy by calling it "Islamic." (Otherwise they would not.) This raised eyebrows in Israel, which considers itself a Jewish democracy, but shouldn't because Islam is a religion named for "peace." The Iranian government encourages peaceful participation in democracy by describing it this way. (Some Iranians are also Zoroastrians, and consequently believe in “good words, good thoughts and good deeds,” which all reflect exemplary integrity.)

Most democratically elected governments these days describe democracy theologically. Iran is far from alone in this regard. The United States does the same thing in distinguishing church from state but welcoming each new leader with a hand on a Christian Bible anyway. There's even a Christian religious motto in the United States found equivalently in Islamic religious texts and governments. The Israeli government of course declares that it’s Jewish. The tradition of democracy being theological is therefore essentially the same in the United States, Israel and Iran (though the predominating religion varies between them).

President Obama understood that Iranians may have had nothing whatsoever to do with the events of September 2001, and was open to peace with all peaceful Islamic nations. The Obama-Biden administration's peace deal with Iran was called The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It was agreed to by Iran. The peace agreement gave the Obama-Biden administration visibility into Iran's energy production. Iran promised to limit certain aspects of their behavior. President Obama lifted sanctions as a result. President Obama probably felt that Iran would quickly develop successful diplomatic relations with all other countries once given the opportunity. He probably expected this to include improving relations between Iran and Israel. But Iran didn't improve relations with Israel. And the arrangement was vehemently objected to by the Israeli government and population instead.

JCPOA probably would have been permanently successful if Israel had supported the arrangement. But it was only successful for a short time during the Obama-Biden years. Israel was able to undermine the deal during the subsequent Trump-Pence U.S. presidential administration. JCPOA was met with tremendous enthusiasm in Iran and the United States, when it was an active arrangement. People in both countries looked forward to the Iranian population participating openly and freely in the global economy. However, the deal eventually fell apart without Israel's support.

This is because the Trump-Pence administration only developed respect and appreciation for Muslim countries during their time in office. Initially they implemented a Muslim travel ban - without public explanation or an obvious reason to do so - that was only several years later replaced with a very sensitive and thoughtful approach to Islam and the region. The Trump administration ultimately demonstrated exemplary integrity and courage for peace in the Middle East. But President Trump didn’t make hoped for progress beyond the region with Iran.

The Trump-Pence administration had a different perspective on U.S. relations with Iran than the Obama-Biden administration had. They preferred the Jewish-Israeli perspective, because the United States was (and remains) fully persuaded by Iran's deterrence. The U.S. government hoped that Iran might make everyone feel safe and sign an improved peace deal with Israel. The Trump-Pence administration therefore worked with Israel to renegotiate JCPOA with Iran. Both the United States and Iran were tolerating public safety incidences that they were incorrectly attributing to the other. The Trump-Biden government abruptly halted U.S. participation in JCPOA in response to innocent public safety incidences, and as a negotiating tactic, hoping Iran, the United States and Israel would all achieve a public peace with one another. But Iran felt that the prior negotiations should remain sacrosanct, and that any subsequent negotiations be held under an additional agreement. Iran wanted the United States to honor JCPOA regardless of its continued deterrent relationship towards Israel.

Iran stayed entirely true to their word and fully respected JCPOA. Iran has a perfect record of reliability in peace negotiations and deals. The Iranian government keeps its word even when other countries don't do the same. But the United States didn't keep its word to Iran. Iran expressed disdain for the entire matter, and started refusing to even interact with the Trump-Pence administration (as far as the public is aware). The Trump-Pence administration's efforts to create additional terms for the peace agreement were therefore unsuccessful. Iran wouldn't hear them out, and simply insisted that the United States stay true to its prior commitments. Now the Biden-Harris administration is considering honoring the original commitment, and returning the United States to the peace treaty once again.

President Joe Biden was Vice President when the original JCPOA agreement was reached. Now that he's President, he seemed initially inclined to return his own peace deal. The Biden-Harris administration hasn’t seemed to feel that is currently the right thing to do. But the administration should. To make the deal last longer, U.S. Congressionals support should be sought this time, which would make a deal much more durable, because it won't be subject to renegotiation by each subsequent presidential administration. (This writer believes U.S. media would provide bi-partisan support for better U.S. - Iran relations.) Presidential and congressional support would certainly be very welcomed by the Iranian government. However, Israel continues to have significant influence. Jewish Americans who support Israel have wealthy government lobbying organizations. Jews also directly participate in the U.S. government. Israel might therefore be able to interfere with the deal again if there isn't a simultaneous improvement in Iranian - Israeli relations.

Iran may secure U.S. Presidential and majority U.S. congressional support for sanctions relief in coming years. Countries that are generous towards one another are far more successful than ones that are not. And both the U.S. and Iranian governments understand that positive attitudes are more than just the right thing to do. They're in the interest of the populations of both countries.

This writer believes it's time for the United States to stop attributing internals issues to countries that have nothing to do with them. The Iranian community has always been at peace within the United States. The United States in turn hopes Iran will soften its stance in the region and rhetoric towards Israel, and make the Abraham Declaration. Iran and Israel are not patterning enough "peace" and "love" to each other often enough yet - something that could start happening more and more. Palestinians and Jews are on the verge of a lasting peace agreement if everyone wants one. It's a potentially very exciting time in their diplomacy as a result. This writer wishes Iran would take credit for their improving relations by hosting successful peace talks in Tehran. That would create tremendous credibility for Iran globally.)

The Palestinian people care deeply about peace and want integration with all other populations including within Israel. They want to be around more great people like themselves. Palestinians requested that all other countries sign the same Abraham declaration with them. This can be done at any time with a simple press release.

The United States media used to deter Americans from improving relations with Iran, and the Iranian government intentionally played along. Consequently, the extraordinary compassion and exemplary ethics of Iranian leaders and people aren’t understood among NATO states. The Iranian government is far more ethical than is broadly believed in the west. Iran has helped Israel and NATO. And there is some thawing in relations. But Iran deserves much more rapidly improving relations with all countries at the United Nations as a result.

Islam was named for “peace." (“Slam” is “peace” and “Islam” literally implies mutual “surrender.” It’s possibly the most peaceful religion on earth.) Peace is deeply desired by the Iranian government and people. Any opportunity for peace between all countries should be more than just joyously welcomed. Let's celebrate and cherish peace globally.