Reflections for the media on a 12-day trip to Iran

May 20, 2008

Two weeks ago, I was walking the streets of Esfahan, the large city near the disputed nuclear power plant of Iran. Iman Square, the second largest square in the world; Iman Mosque, bright dome colors flashing in sun; and the Persian Palace with the long winding stairway are among the most amazing ancient sites of the world and just miles from the nuclear power plant. Our Fellowship of Reconciliation USA 21-person delegation, ages 21-75, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Native American, toured, shopped the bazaar and ate delicious quince/chicken stew at a traditional Iranian restaurant.

Many other tourists from Europe, Asia and Africa also were enjoying the sites, food and souvenir bargains-Persian carpets, hand-painted plates and pistachios. But only about 500 U.S. citizens get visas to visit Iran each year. The United States and Iran have no diplomatic relations and haven't since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which overthrew the CIA-installed Shah.

We weren't tourists, but part of a grassroots diplomacy mission hoping to prevent another war. As a Mennonite (Christian) who believes we are called to love our enemies, I wanted to meet and talk with Iranians, let them know there are millions of people in the United States who don't want war with the people of Iran. I wanted to have faces, stories of my enemies so that I wouldn't be tempted to believe stereotypes so common during times of impending war.

To my amazement, Iranians were delighted to meet and talk with us. Many speak a smattering of English. They learn it in school and, since about one million Iranians live in the United States, many have visited here. (Iranians have a difficult time getting U.S. visas, as we had a tough time getting ours.) I'm not a picturesque person, but constantly people wanted to take a photograph with me and others of the group and I began to feel like a bit of a movie star! I handed out postcards of Orrville, my hometown, and people were amazed that a city in the United States could be so small. Repeatedly Iranians proclaimed, "We love Americans! We just don't understand your government." And I echoed the sentiment, "We love Iran and we don't understand your government!"

But then my heart would drop as I looked into a schoolchild's eyes and wondered how close she lives to the camps where 'surgical strikes' might hit. Iranians suffered horribly during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980's when Iraq invaded their brand new country which didn't even have a standing army. Two of the men who hosted our group were soldiers during that conflict and their bodies have lost some functions because of the biological weapons the United States helped Iraq obtain-yet these men were gracious hosts, seeing to our every need, hoping to build trusting relationships between our countries.

Am I any closer than I was before to knowing the truth about Iran's nuclear ambitions, relationship to Israel or human rights record? Of course not. But I have looked children and parents in the eye and know they want peace and prosperity for themselves and for me. I have touched 2500-year-old artifacts of the Persian Empire that cannot be replaced. I am ever more certain that war does not solve problems and that diplomacy is worth the time and the effort.