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An open letter to the Islamic Republic of Iran

Whatever you do, do not give up your uranium enrichment program or your pursuit of nuclear weapons. Just look at what happened to Iraq and the result of its compliance: When the chemical weapons were gone, and the UN inspectors said they were gone, the United States moved in; bombed/terrorized the country. Now the US has backed out of another agreement before the ink was even dry, proving once again that our word and our treaties mean nothing. Along with the nuclear weapons, you will sacrifice any political clout to stop the self-proclaimed theocratic state of Israel from its zealous campaign to recreate the past. They will eventually knock down the Dome of the Rock and construct a new temple of Solomon in its place. And they will continue to expand their dominance by continuing to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian territories through attrition until access to Jerusalem is entirely cut off. And they will do it all under the pretext of security, with the backing of the United States. The very fact they must do completely unnecessary and provocative things such as claiming Jerusalem as their capital is, of course, proof enough by itself.

The people of Israel have always claimed the state of Israel was formed as a place of refuge, from whence to defend the Jewish people, but we all know that is only part of the story—perhaps even the lesser part. I make no argument, here, as to whether Israel should exist or not as a matter of restoring pride to the Jewish people. What’s done is done. But as a US citizen, I recommend ceasing compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal entirely and not making any concessions until such time the citizens of both the state of Israel and the United States take responsibility to elect leaders who sincerely represent the refuge principle for the state of Israel, as opposed to representing religious fervor.

I would like to point out, that while this letter may be critical of the United States and Israel, nothing here should be taken as any great praise of Iran. With the destructive firepower of modern weapons—both large and small, nuclear and non-nuclear—religious zealotry is now one of the greatest threats to humanity itself. And it is this individual’s opinion that the citizens of every country should do their best to keep theocratic regimes and religious zealotry out of their central governments.

Dave Conklin
5/11/19

2/23/20: I should probably note that, while Iran has always been emphatic that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, for the purpose of making a point, the above article only assumes the neo-con assertion that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons is true. In other words, whether or not Iran really is enriching uranium for the purpose of creating weapons is beside the point.