Monday, January 14, 2008

Raising the Chances for Success in Negotiating with Iran

Here is the recently-released United States Institute of Peace Special Report I highly recommend on "Negotiating with the Islamic Republic of Iran: Raising the Chances for Success Fifteen Points to Remember." It is part of USIP's Cross -Cultural Negotiation Project. It was written by Ambassador (Ret.) John Limbert who served in Iran and was one of the hostages at the US embassy in Tehran from 1979 to 1981. Ambassador Limbert is also working on a book on Iranian negotiating behavior that is scheduled to be completed later this year.

1 comment:

Jen said...

The Hoover Institution has just published a great summary of the American/Iranian relationship, including why things have gotten so tense (like the fast book incident a few weeks ago) and why some suspect Iran of having a nuclear weapons program:

http://www.hoover.org/research/focusonissues/focus/13769442.html

Best of all, according to Hoover, we may not need to go to war with Iran after all. This will be good news to those who have tired of our involvement in Iraq:

“In a collaborative article written by the Hoover Institution’s Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow Michael McFaul and Hoover research fellow Abbas Milani, they argue that preemptive strikes against Iran would not only be disastrous but would undermine what little stability exists in the region. The two explain that the best way to engage Iran is through diplomatic means: ‘Although counterintuitive to some, diplomatic engagement is required to pursue the long-term goal of democratization and, in parallel, the short-term goal of arms control.’

“But is the chasm between the United States and Iran too large to cross? A number of reliable polls indicate that an overwhelming majority of Iranians hold a highly favorable opinion of America and Americans. Furthermore, according to a published report, a vast majority of Iranians and Americans alike denounce Osama bin Laden and agree that terrorism is a serious threat. This suggests to experts such as McFaul, Milani, and Hoover senior fellow Larry Diamond that enough common ground exists that diplomatic solutions can be explored.

“... Despite decades of distrust and heated rhetoric, Victor Davis Hanson, the Hoover Institution’s Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow, believes that the U.S. Iran policy is working. ‘A strike now on Iran would be a grave mistake,’ Hanson explains, ‘in every strategic and political sense—not to mention the humanitarian one of harming a populace that may well soon prove to be the most pro-Western in the region.’ ”