SHIPSHEWANA, Ind. — “Double standards” and a lack of “mutual respect” are among the biggest contributors to the volatile relationship between the United States and Iran, according to Daryl Byler, guest speaker at the Mennonite Central Committee Great Lakes annual meeting Saturday.
Byler, director of MCC’s Washington office for the past 13 years, recently took a trip to the country along with a delegation of 12 other U.S. religious leaders as part of an interfaith peace initiative. This was the topic of his speech Saturday afternoon at Shore Mennonite Church.
“MCC has had a 17-year history in Iran,” Byler said, which began in 1990 with disaster relief work. “That was the beginning of a relationship that has grown in leaps and bounds since then.”
The delegation, which consisted of representatives from the Mennonite, Quaker, Catholic and numerous other church and faith organizations, left the U.S. for Iran on Feb. 17 with the goal of increasing dialogue between the country’s religious and political leaders in order to help defuse the growing tensions between the two countries. The delegation returned to the U.S. Feb. 25.
As part of their week-long trip, which was organized by MCC and the American Friends Service Committee, members of the delegation were able to visit and speak with numerous Muslim religious leaders in Tehran, Qom and Isfahan, as well as various women serving in the Iranian parliament, former President Mahommad Khatami and current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
During their time with Ahmadinejad, Byler indicated the delegation spoke candidly about the role of religious leaders in helping to reduce tensions and build bridges between the two countries.
“We found that there was quite a bit of interest about that topic in Iran,” Byler said.
Also a topic of much discussion during the meeting was Iran’s budding nuclear program, which Ahmadinejad indicated is definitely being pursued for energy use with no intentions of creating a nuclear weapons program.
The nuclear issue is particularly aggravating to Ahmadinejad, Byler said, noting the recent bombardment of Iran by the international community in the face of allegations of nuclear weapons manufacture.
Byler indicated that Ahmadinejad sees this as a grave “double standard,” noting the complete lack of outcry by the international community following Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s recent acknowledgment of the presence of nuclear weapons in Israel — a country which has not even signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, unlike Iran.
Ahmadinejad has also been the target of much international criticism for his controversial condemnation of the state of Israel — a stance which Ahmadinejad indicated has been badly misinterpreted.
“Ahmadinejad believes in a one-state solution,” Byler said of his call to “wipe Israel from the map” — a statement which Ahmadinejad said has been incorrectly viewed as a call for military action instead of a political endeavor.
“He believes that all Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the state should be able to democratically elect a government that can address all of their concerns,” Byler said. “He is not talking about military action or war. He feels there is only a political solution to this problem.”
Overall, Byler indicated that the feel the delegation got from their visit was that Iran is open to negotiations with the U.S., but only if they are treated with “mutual respect” and are given no pre-conditions.
Now that the delegation has returned from their trip, Byler indicated the group will be visiting with numerous members of the U.S. Congress informing them of what they learned on their trip and offering suggestions on how the administration can move toward lessening current tensions between the two countries.
“There is not a military solution to this problem in Iran, and we need to seek a different path,” Byler said at the close of his speech. “We need to give diplomacy a chance.”
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