Opinion | Iran Should Reconcile With America

America stands ready to engage an Iranian government with mutual respect, in pursuit of mutual interests. But in order to make this opening possible — in order to normalize ties and enjoy all the benefits that would follow — the regime must first decide that it wants to be a normal country and not a revolutionary cause.

A peaceful Iran would augur well for a more peaceful Middle East. But after 40 years many nations have become desensitized to Iran’s violence and have lost the ability to imagine a peaceful Iran. Such low expectations do a great disservice to the cause of peace, and especially to the Iranian people, who want a better life.

It is time for nations to restore basic demands on Iran to behave like a normal, peaceful nation: end the pursuit of nuclear weapons, stop testing ballistic missiles, stop sponsoring terrorist proxies and halt the arbitrary detention of dual citizens. The regime should invest in its own people instead of bankrolling dictators, terrorists, missiles and militias. Thanks to regime subsidies, the average Hezbollah combatant makes two to three times what an Iranian firefighter is paid.

I have heard diplomats tell me these fundamental changes are unrealistic. Is it somehow more realistic to accept the status quo of Iran exporting sectarian violence at will and creating a Shiite corridor of control? Is it more realistic to watch the regime forcibly try to bend all of Iranian society to conform with tenets of the Islamic Revolution?

If nations choose not to hold this regime to the same standard as all other nations, we must expect more of the same violence abroad and oppression at home. The Iranian people, including women who are denied even their most basic dignity, are pressuring the regime from inside. They want nations to support them with pressure from outside. That is the best and most probable path to promote peace and to secure the rights and freedoms the Iranian people deserve and were promised in 1979.

While it is ultimately up to the Iranian people to determine the direction of their country, the United States, in the spirit of our own freedoms, will support the long-ignored voice of the Iranian people. Other nations should join this effort. The next 40 years of Iran’s history would be marked then not by repression and fear, but by freedom and fulfillment for the Iranian people.

Brian H. Hook is a former director of the State Department’s Office of Policy Planning.

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