In February 2007, amongst mounting international tensions between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran, a group of American religious leaders flew to the theocratic Persian Gulf nation on a mission of peace. Prominent amongst the unofficial American delegation was Joe Volk, the executive secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). On Jan. 31, he spoke at the New Garden Meeting House about his experience.
While in Iran, Volk and his compatriots spoke to influential figures such as former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Although they spoke in-depth with these powerful figures, Volk specifically tried to talk with average Iranian citizens as well.
“People were so excited to see us (on the street level),” Volk said. “They were very excited that Americans had come and that we had come to listen. I never once felt ill-at-ease.”
Volk’s delegation went to Iran with the intention of touching on every hot button issue: the republic’s nuclear program, Ahmadinejad’s alleged Holocaust denial conference, the situation with minority religions, women in Islam, and Israel. But Volk kept the chief reason for the delegation’s visit at the center of his attention.
“Everyone we talked to said whether they were pro-government or anti-government that if America attacked they would have to defend their country,” Volk said. “They seemed stoic and resigned to the idea.”
Volk emphasized what he sees as the differing narratives of the United States and Iran is what makes dealing with the rivalry so tricky. The American narrative, haunted by the specter of the 1979 hostage crisis, focuses on the untrustworthiness of U.S.-hating Islamic theocrats.
The Iranian narrative dwells on the American-backed overthrow of the democratically elected government in 1953, the subsequent installation of the authoritarian Shah, and our funding of Saddam Hussein in the horrific Iran-Iraq war. But Volk insists that these conflicting narratives mask powerful civil society connections between the two countries that could allow for dialogue. He noted that the delegation’s commercial flight to the republic was full of Iranian-Americans, who spoke with affection for both nations. One woman told Volk that there were so many Iranians in Los Angeles that they called it Tehrangeles.
“(Volk’s talk) gives us a better understanding of what we call ‘track-two diplomacy,'” said Vernie Davis, director of the peace and conflict studies department and a longtime friend of Volk. “Citizens’ groups becoming involved in diplomacy and working outside of official government circles work on increasing the understanding.”
Volk’s group of citizen diplomats reached exceptionally high into the Iranian power structure. On one of their last nights, the delegation talked theology and politics with President Ahmadinejad. The discussion included what many see as the most troubling aspects of Ahmadinejad’s presidency – his alleged support of terrorism and his anti-Semitic comments.
“He said nothing about Israel that will relieve anyone’s concerns about him,” Volk said. “But the Iranian president does not have the same powers that ours does. He isn’t the commander and chief, he doesn’t make foreign policy – it is the supreme leader who oversees the military.”
“I noticed that his talk with the president was the only time (Volk) doubted what someone said,” said Rania Campbell-Cobb, senior co-clerk of the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program. “He told us that he didn’t know how much truth there was in that (conversation.)”
Despite these cautionary words, Volk ended on the uplifting message that conflict could be avoided by quoting Abraham Lincoln’s response to a suggestion that he destroy the South at the end of the Civil War. “Am I not destroying my enemies when I call them my friend?