Learn to Listen: The lessons of sanctions

I received a phone call from Tehran today. Three members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation's peace delegation to Iran were calling with a brief report on their first 48 hours in the country. They've had little to no access to the internet, and wanted to make sure everyone at home knows they are hard at work, building relationships in the country that the Bush administration once again today labeled as dangerous and prone to warmongering.

Bush -- in a press conference that was spent defending his continuing policy of targeting Iran with sanctions and verbal pressure despite a National Intelligence Estimate released yesterday that said that Iran is not building nuclear weapons -- said, "“Look, Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous, if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon...”

In response, FOR Iran Program Coordinator Leila Zand commented, "Iranians don't want war. They are not seeking tensions with the United States and the international community. When they said they were not building a nuclear bomb, our government refused to believe them. We need to learn to listen -- this needs to be a lesson to us."

The peace delegation in Iran is doing precisely that right now: listening intently. Today they visited the home of Imam Khomeini. While there, they engaged in conversation with a diversity of everyday Iranians who were also visiting this national shrine. Delegation member Rick Zand, of East Montpelier, VT, discussed a conversation with a businessman named Amir. "What he fears is further and deeper sanctions," said Zand, noting that the economic pressures are hurting ordinary people like Amir, who works in the medical industry.

Delegation member Judith Bello spoke more hopefully, discussing her conversations with an Iraqi woman at the shrine, who was visiting from Baghdad. "Although we had a significant language barrier, I was able to convey our empathy and sadness about Iraq. I took her photo, and she held up in front of her pictures of her two heroes, Khomeini and Hassan Nizrallah. It was a very warm connection; she said goodbye and waved to me as we left."

The delegation also spoke at length with a group of primary school students and their teacher, fluent in English, about their hopes and interests. They are looking forward to more such conversations with people on the streets and at the historic and cultural sites where they will visit in the coming days.

The first email report of the delegation is scheduled to be received late on December 5th, while they are still in Tehran. The itinerary has them planning to travel next to Shiraz, where they will spend December 8th and 9th, and then onward to Yazd, Esfahan, and Qom.