President Obama: Don't Be Afraid to Negotiate

President Obama commits to pursuing real, direct and sustained diplomacy with Iran, without preconditions, on the campaign trail. Many, many times -- so many times you'd think he wouldn't need reminding. Share this video with Twitter Share

During the Presidential campaign, Senator Obama repeatedly quoted President Kennedy: "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."

But now the Obama Administration appears to be missing a key opportunity to deescalate conflict with Iran through negotiation. Last May, Iran agreed to send 2,640 pounds of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey within a month as part of a confidence building measure negotiated by Turkey and Brazil. Ivan Oelrich, vice president of the Strategic Security Program at the Federation of American Scientists, said the technical difference between the deal Iran just agreed to and the deal the Obama administration proposed in October 2009 is small and that Iran is offering a key opportunity for engagement.

But, as author Stephen Kinzer noted, the U.S. seems to be "reflexively dismissing" the deal, appearing to be "unreasonable and petulant."

Help us remind President Obama of his campaign pledge to "negotiate with our enemies" by signing our petition below.

During the Presidential campaign, you often quoted President Kennedy: 'Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.' But now your Administration appears to be refusing to negotiate with Iran, even though Iran has agreed to a nuclear fuel swap deal that experts say is similar to the one your Administration proposed just a few months ago. Please follow through on your promise to negotiate with Iran without preconditions.
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    • 1-25 of 2507 signatures
    Number Date Name Location Any additional comments?
    2507 Tue Dec 25 07:22:19 EST 2012 Faith Guerra NY Houses and cars are not cheap and not every person can buy it. But, <a href="http://goodfinance-blog.com/topics/home-loans">home loans</a> are created to aid different people in such kind of More....
    2506 Fri Jan 13 03:16:31 EST 2012 Carley Broder NY
    2505 Fri Jan 06 23:33:29 EST 2012 James Shelton VA Iran has not invaded another country for centuries. Lets really look at the evidence for Iran planing to aquire weapons of mass destruction some time in the future as critically as we should have looked More....
    2504 Mon Dec 19 10:57:14 EST 2011 Anonymous
    2503 Fri Nov 18 21:14:52 EST 2011 Alvin Willingham NV:Nevada; leave Iran alone. Just like Iraq they did nothing to America. Give Palestine there freedom. and stop kissing Zionist asses stop funding going to war criminal Zionist. stop fighting Zionist wars.Stop making More....
    2502 Thu Oct 20 16:28:11 EDT 2011 Lynne Banta CA
    2501 Wed Oct 05 01:20:35 EDT 2011 diane arceneaux LA
    2500 Sat Sep 24 13:06:05 EDT 2011 Barry Hart MA
    2499 Fri Sep 23 12:14:26 EDT 2011 lester kober NJ:New Jersey;
    2498 Wed Sep 14 21:27:20 EDT 2011 Lynne Banta CA
    2497 Tue Aug 30 00:53:24 EDT 2011 Anonymous KS The pain and suffering you will cause for the planet will be irreversible, please negotiate with Iran instead of starting a war.
    2496 Sun Aug 07 20:58:00 EDT 2011 Anonymous
    2495 Fri Jul 29 19:55:05 EDT 2011 Randy Benson TX
    2494 Thu Jul 28 01:37:51 EDT 2011 Mark Clark AL
    2493 Wed Jul 06 23:52:23 EDT 2011 Philip Bonham VA
    2492 Mon Jun 27 20:06:09 EDT 2011 Milt Wolfson PA
    2491 Mon Jun 27 20:05:25 EDT 2011 Milt Wolfson PA
    2490 Fri Jun 17 03:12:47 EDT 2011 Anonymous You, who have always claimed that negotiation is the key to resolving differences, negotiate with Iran, please!
    2489 Sat Jun 11 01:54:44 EDT 2011 Anonymous
    2488 Wed Jun 08 22:11:17 EDT 2011 Anonymous IL President Obama
    Please keep your promises to end these wars all over the middle east on behalf of Israel and continue negotitians with Iran or anyone else
    over there intrested in peace. End More....
    2487 Mon Jun 06 15:02:19 EDT 2011 Edith Mulhern PA Offer an olive branch, apologize for IR655.
    2486 Tue May 24 07:35:09 EDT 2011 Anonymous Stay out of Iran! End support for AIPAC.
    2485 Sat May 21 08:35:26 EDT 2011 Anonymous
    2484 Tue May 10 00:07:34 EDT 2011 Eddie Floyd II MI
    2483 Fri May 06 19:26:33 EDT 2011 Ellen Jamieson NJ
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