Episcopal Church official joins call for 'interest section' in Tehran

August 15, 2008

[EPPN] Maureen Shea, director of the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations, has joined an effort calling for the U.S. State Department to open an "interests section" in Tehran, Iran.

Shea, Mary Ellen McNish, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee and Ron Flaming, director of international programs for the Mennonite Central Committee, have sent a letter to President George Bush and presidential contenders senators John McCain and Barack Obama, writing, “For too long, the U.S. policy of non-engagement with Iran has brought us inflammatory words and provocative actions and has failed to reduce tensions or move toward a more just and peaceful relationship."

The three, who were part of an ecumenical delegation to Iran in 2007, say in their letter that "based on our own experience, we write to support such action as an important step toward positive engagement between our two nations."

Their letter follows a number of press reports that the State Department is seriously considering opening an interest section in Tehran, interests now handled by the Swiss Embassy there. Such an opening would mean that U.S. diplomats would be stationed in Iran for the first time since the hostage crisis of 1979. the rest