An Open Letter to President Joseph Biden

An Open Letter to President Joseph Biden from the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center’s Global Peace Collective

Dear President Biden:

The Iran Nuclear Deal – officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – ranks as the most important diplomatic achievement of the Obama administration. Donald Trump’s repudiation of the JCPOA was completely unwarranted and exceedingly dangerous. The JCPOA is critical for stabilizing the Middle East, forestalling a nuclear weapons race, and preventing what could be a catastrophic war.

Thus, it is vitally important that the United States return to the JCPOA quickly and completely. Fortunately, you have expressed the intention of doing so. Yet some countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Israel, stridently oppose the Iran Nuclear Deal. They foolishly imagine that, subjected to enough assaults, the government of Iran will collapse and be replaced by a regime more to their liking. In reality, Iran’s consistent response to assaults from abroad has been to accelerate its nuclear program.

Israel’s frequent attacks upon Iran, including last year’s assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and last week’s sabotage of the Natanz nuclear facility, are outrageous violations of international law and grave threats to world peace. They are obviously intended to undermine the possibility of resurrecting the JCPOA. This must not happen! Your administration should sanction our putative ally Israel for (among many other things) its blatant disregard of United States foreign policy and national interests.

The sanctions the United States imposes upon Iran have caused the Iranian people great hardship: inflation, unemployment, hunger, and death by epidemic. Despite substantial internal opposition, the government of Iran has expressed willingness to embrace all provisions of the JCPOA if these brutal sanctions are removed. Bear in mind that it was the USA and not Iran that rejected the JCPOA. Fairness and common sense imply that the United States should take the initiative in reviving the JCPOA by abolishing all sanctions without further delay.

Peace and justice advocates all over the world fervently hope that your administration has the courage and intelligence to do so.

On behalf of the Global Peace Collective,
Ron Forthofer
David Levin
Tom Mayer
Rob Prince
Filip Sokol