Many Iranians are watching the new round of nuclear talks in Vienna between major world powers and Iran with great interest, hoping for a deal that would lead to the lifting of economic sanctions imposed on their country and an improvement in their daily lives.
Among those hoping for an agreement are intellectuals, political activists, opposition members, and some victims of the Iranian establishment's repressive policies.
"We want maximum flexibility from both sides for the talks to succeed," said a statement signed by some 70 political and social activists inside and outside the country that was issued amid the looming November 24 deadline.
The signatories include Parvin Fahimi whose son was killed in the 2009 postelection state crackdown on oppositionists and the well-known national religious activist Taghi Rahmani, who has been jailed and harassed by the Iranian regime.
The statement says that a positive outcome to the nuclear talks would help peace in the region and also aid democratic progress in Iran.
The statement warns that Iranian "radicals opposed to freedom and democracy" and "pro- war forces" would be the ones to benefit should the talks fail.
In a separate statement, over 100 Iranian intellectuals, political activists, and former student leaders have issued a similar warning.
They write that any failure to reach a breakthrough in the nuclear talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group of world powers -- composed of the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France, plus Germany -- would be beneficial for radical forces in the region and in Israel.
The group has called on Iran to show flexibility in the nuclear talks and not allow the negotiations to fail over the capacity of its nuclear-enrichment program.
"In our view, [Iran's] uranium-enrichment program does not have an economic justification, even though, in principle, based on the [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty], Iran has the right to enrich uranium."
The activists warn that the lack of a nuclear agreement would strengthen the foreign policy desired by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which they say has had catastrophic results for Iranians.
"Its substance is the policy of no war and no peace [i.e. no conflict, but no normalized relations] in the region along with the continuation of 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' slogans," the signatories write.
They also write that the majority of Iranians are not willing to pay the price for the establishment's tension-creating policies and its nuclear ambitions.
-- Golnaz Esfandiari
