Iran Panel
Friday, May 18, 2012
I attended a panel on “Iran’s nuclear program, dialogue and the imperative of moving beyond threats at the NATO FREE FUTURE summit. Here are my notes.
Mike Veiluva spoke about how opposition in Iran is not invisible, and that Iran is part of IAEA. In 2005, Iran started enrichment again, mainly due to US sanctions. Enrichment of 5% or less is for nuclear power, enrichment of over 20% is done for research (small amount) and no evidence of enrichment for nuclear weapons program. IAEA does not inspect the five original nuclear powers and Israel, India and Pakistan. In Israel, the nuclear weapons program is ignored by everyone. Iran is being discriminated against. The UN told Iran not to enrich, but they are any way, and now being sanctioned for this enrichment. Press reports are based on fear, not facts.
Phyllis Bennett talked about the role of Israel and the neo-con talk of war on Iran. Israel also pushed for war on Iraq, and did US neo-cons, but the US neo-cons are not in power right now. She discussed the question of why is Israel so concerned about Iran getting nuclear weapons – because it is a threat to Israel’s monopoly on nuclear weapons, but it is not an existential threat. There are also political realities. Israel is very far to the right, and they like to claim existential threats to keep up the occupation of Palestine going. Israeli politicians prefer a Republican in the White House, per this speaker. Israel and the US both have “red lines” concerning Iran, but they are not identical. The US will not accept nuclear weaponized Iran, and Israel will not accept Iran being “capable” of producing nuclear weapons. It is not really clear what “capable” really means in Israel. Many US leaders have said that war on Iran would be a disaster.
Peter Lems (AFSC) said that $2.2 million is spent every minute for the US military. The behavior of the US has shifted more to the military since the terrorist attack on 9-11. He said that he found economic sanctions to be a form of warfare from studying what the sanctions do to Iraq. Iran has lifted subsidies on basic commodities; they are pushing Afghan refugees out of Iran, and they are curtailing education and health care. India and Pakistan are not honoring the sanctions. Peter said we need to have a connection to the opposition in Iran. US policy is horrible and very militarized and needs to be removed. US policies to Iran are full on “reduce their power” and the US is also trying to distort their relations to neighboring countries. He feels our best approach is to control US military spending.
Andrew Lichterman said we need long term movement to stop nuclear power everywhere.
Kevin Martin (Peace Action) said that sanctions have real consequences for Iran that causes more suffering. The US is trying to change the government’s behavior by making the people suffer. He said that nuclear weapons are for deterrence, this is true for all nuclear powers and Iran too. Diplomacy is the answer, not war and not sanctions. He commented on ad by Massachusetts Peace Action and passed around a picture of it. Kevin said we need to push for a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East and removing US forces completely. He also recommended citizen diplomacy.
Further discussion said that sanctions have doubled the price of goods in Iran. We asked how do we push for diplomacy, and how to make the US government to make good on it’s commitments. The US did not sign the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) but the treaty said that the five powers who nuclear weapons (at the time of the treaty) had to get rid of them. Iran is NOT violating the NPT. We should support people’s struggle for democracy, and our primary task is to stop the US’s war making. Sanctions are destabilizing and a form of war. A nuclear war will cause a large famine, and a nuclear strike on Iran will kill 10 million people. They recommended bird-dogging candidates and writing LTEs and calling talk shows. They also recommended building issues in the Occupy Movement and holding workshops with Iranians.
HAVAAR: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions and State Repression
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