Nobel Women's Initiative

In mid-2006 reports were leaked that the U.S., under the leadership of George W. Bush, was actively planning a military offensive against Iran, ostensibly to thwart Iran's development of a nuclear weapon. Tensions between the countries escalated, rhetoric ratcheted up and a stand-off has been underway since. Since his inauguration in 2009, President Barack Obama sought to patch relations by indicating a new willingness to reach out to Muslims and engage with Iran.

In response, Iranians have been toning down their anti-U.S. rhetoric, but relations remain tense between the two countries. Obama has repeatedly said that he will use all tools, including direct talks, to address Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran argues is for peaceful purposes.

(Nobel Peace Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Jody Williams with others during a public event in Washington, DC in January 2007. Ebadi, from Iran, and Williams, from the US, joined to speak out against a possible war between Iran and the US.)

Not wanting to see another Iraq and more violence in an already volatile and fragile Middle East, the Nobel Women's Initiative calls for constructive US-Iran dialogue and engagement. We believe such dialogue should be broader than just the heads of state. The parliaments, civil society, non-governmental organizations and academia of the two countries must play constructive roles not only in peace talks but also in broader interactions between our societies with the ultimate goal of normalizing relations between the US and Iran.

Like it has done in previous cases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has sought to justify military action against Iran by increasingly pointing to Iran's human rights record. Nobel Laureate and Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi underscores the dangers of international punishment or military interference in Iran saying, “the people of Iran will not permit Iran to become another Iraq. It's the people of iran that have to gain their own freedom and human rights improvement."

For more information:

• Iran Nuclear Watch: News, analysis, and resources relating to Iran's nuclear program and US-Iran relations.

• Read more about the Nobel Women's Initiative's June 2006 civil society delegation to Vienna for meetings with representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors to urge a negotiated resolution to the staff-off.

• Find out about Stephen Kinzer's, longtime New York Times correspondent and author of the book All the Shah's Men, trip across the United States to make the case for real diplomacy with Iran. Find out more.

Campaigns for Human Rights in Iran:

• International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
• Change for Equality

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