Our Intention
While personally we are sympathetic to reform initiatives in Iran, we don’t travel there to advance a political agenda. Our intention is not to try to persuade people to be different. We simply ask questions and listen. We bear witness to their truth, their reality. We let go of what we think we know and in this way make possible real encounter. We try to assure people that some Americans are deeply interested in learning what matters most to them.
We first traveled to Iran in 2007, and returned in the spring of 2009; 
the intention of both journeys was to explore possibilities for leading citizen diplomacy delegations to Iran. As with our cross-cultural journeys to Syria, we went to meet with ordinary Iranians from all walks of life and to create opportunities for introducing Americans to this ancient and hospitable culture. Currently, fewer than 500 Americans per year travel to Iran. We hoped that President Obama’s offer of a handshake and future diplomacy with Iran would make the psychological and administrative barriers easier to overcome.
On both our trips we found we were able to meet with Iranians, who readily expressed a variety of points of view. Artists, professors, women of all incomes, poor refugees, clerics, young students and government officials – all were part of our journey and learning. Iranians present a complex mixture of strong opinions and broad-minded attitudes, and they are friendly and eager to express themselves.
Of course, Iran’s fledgling democracy is struggling within the grip of a divided government. Human rights abuses are common, the atmosphere of urban society is tense, and government rhetoric against much of the outside world is deliberately provacative.
So for now our Encountering Iran journeys are postponed, and will be re-scheduled when our contacts in Iran advise us that it is possible once again to meet and talk openly with ordinary Iranians in different parts of the country.
We hope to re-start these programs soon. When the people of one country are isolated from the people of another, suspicion and distrust increase. We are convinced that seeds of peace will be watered when Americans are better informed about Iranian life, religion, culture and history, and when Iranians have more opportunity to connect with ordinary Americans. To this end we continue to publish Letters from the Road about Iran, give presentations, collaborate in interfaith dialogues, and share stories of the people we have met in Iran whenever possible.
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Letter from the Road #32: WITH HAFEZ IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN – Elias
“In the desert city of Yazd, central Iran, I start asking around to meet a Sufi. Having asked this kind of question before in a number of Muslim countries, I know it doesn’t always work as I hope, so I add, “A wise Sufi who knows and loves Hafez, if there is someone like that here.” After a day word comes back there is one old man someone heard of, a simple holy man – perhaps arrangements can be made for me to meet him.”
Letter from the Road #35: LOOKING FOR IRAN – Elias
“This morning Rabia and I walked out of our small hotel in Esfahan, Iran, and were immediately swept along by a boisterous crowd filling the street—chanting, waving banners—all heading to Imam Square to hear President Ahmadinejad who was due to give a public address there within the hour. Loudspeakers blared and crackled from the back of pickup trucks, shouting party slogans.”
Letter from the Road #36: IRAN AND THE FEATHER OF THE SIMORGH – Elias
“The story goes like this: a baby was abandoned on a mountainside. His cries were heard by the Simorgh, the benevolent winged deity of vast powers, who raised the baby as her own. When the time came for the young man, now called Prince Zal, to rejoin the human world the Simorgh gifted the prince with three feathers which he was to use if he ever needed her help.
And so it happened upon returning to his kingdom that Prince Zal fell in love and married the beautiful Rudaba. When the time arrived for their first child to be born…” (Read more…)
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a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. 1644 Pearl Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302 USA.
