Leading Iranian Figures Support Nuclear Negotiations and Hope for an Agreement

November 12, 2014—As the P5+1 negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program between the world powers and Iran approach the November 24 deadline, it is important that the negotiators on both sides of the table take note of the voices of their respective citizens at home: support for the nuclear negotiations and hope for a successful agreement is clear and strong among both the Iranian and the US public.

In a study released this past July by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Voices from Iran: Strong Support for the Nuclear Negotiations, prominent members of Iranian civil society interviewed by the Campaign expressed their unequivocal support for the nuclear negotiations.

The Campaign’s study found that leading Iranian figures—influential civil society, political, and cultural figures such as lawyers, filmmakers, literary figures, journalists, former members of Parliament, academics, and political analysts, including those who are themselves survivors of human rights abuses and former political prisoners—were unanimous in their support for the ongoing nuclear negotiations.

“No one can presume that [a nuclear] deal will automatically lead to improvements in human rights and civil liberties in Iran,” wrote Hadi Ghaemi, Executive Director of the Campaign, in a preface to the study. “Yet the perpetuation of tensions over the nuclear file is likely to result in continued gross human rights violations. For the past decade, Iran’s nuclear activities have been the focus of international attention and the human rights situation has only worsened. An end to the confrontation over the nuclear issue will allow the focus to turn to the state of human rights in Iran on the global stage.”

On the US side, a July 2014 survey conducted by the Program for Public Consultation and the Center for International & Security Studies at the University of Maryland found that a significant majority of Americans—61 percent—favor a nuclear deal with Iran, a figure supported by earlier polls by the Washington Post/ABC and by CNN.