A Proposal to End the U.S.-Iran Nuclear Standoff

For nearly six years the United Nations Association of the U.S.A. and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund have co-convened a private "Track II" dialogue between former U.S. foreign policy officials and experts and a group of senior Iranian academics and policy advisors.  This dialogue has covered the range of strategic issues between the U.S. and Iran and the group has sought to provide informed, productive analysis of Iran and the U.S., respectively, to each government.  An article in the March 20, 2008 edition of the New York Review of Books entitled A Solution to the Iran-US Nuclear Standoff, authored by William Luers, an RBF advisory trustee; Thomas Pickering; and Jim Walsh, is a product of the Track II dialogue. It offers an alternative approach to dealing with Iran's nuclear development and improving U.S.-Iran relations.  The paper has received statements of support from Senators Chuck Hagel and Dianne Feinstein.