From a Peace Action West Action Alert:

Tensions continue between the US and Iran. In early March, the US voted in favor of the third UN resolution imposing sanctions against Iran for continuing to enrich uranium.

Representative Barbara Lee (D - CA) has introduced the Iran Diplomatic Accountability Act of 2008 (HR 5056) to begin direct and unconditional diplomatic negotiations between the US and Iran. This bill would allow the president to appoint a high-level representative of the US or a special envoy for Iran to help ease tensions between our two countries.

We are now in the sixth year of the war in Iraq, and it is important for all of us to speak up in favor of exercising diplomacy to prevent future conflicts.

US insistence that Iran suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition for direct talks is counter-productive to the ultimate goal of ensuring nuclear non-proliferation. To prevent an escalation of hostilities, the US should engage directly with the Iranian government. Real diplomacy is a tool that shouldn’t be used only to reward one’s allies.

The longer negotiations are postponed, the more likely it is that there will be a war between Iran and the United States.

An attack on Iran would put our troops in Iraq in an even more deadly situation, given that Iran has missles capable of reaching them, and the majority of Iraqis are Shi'ites who have strong religious and cultural ties to Iran.

In a world which even Bush admits is "addicted to oil," a war with Iran would be devastating to an already weak global economy. The losses of Iranian, Iraqi, and American lives would be inexcusable.

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