Prevent Accidental War with Iran
If the U.S. wants to have a productive relationship for peace in the Middle East our President and the Congress must act comprehensively to engage countries like Iran in diplomacy. President Obama has made productive political overtures toward Iran. His historic Norooz message laid the ground work for real diplomacy to move our two countries forward in peace.
Peace Action and our friends at the National Iran-American Council are proud to support bipartisan legislation calling for an “Incidents at Sea” agreement with Iran introduced by Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Geoff Davis (R-KY). There is no version in the Senate; but, your leadership could correct this issue. You can show your support as well by sending a letter to your Representative.
During the cold war, the U.S. and Soviet Union negotiated an “Incidents at Sea” agreement to prevent nuclear war from starting after an accidental collision between nuclear armed submarines or other vessels. We need a similar agreement between the U.S. and Iran because of the high traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and recent incidents between the two countries that could have escalated.
“The problem is that there are no mutually agreed-upon ‘rules of the road’ in the Strait of Hormuz,” said Conyers. “Today, I am introducing a bipartisan resolution with my colleague, Geoff Davis, to call for the negotiation of such an agreement. This is a common sense proposal to protect American sailors, treasure and military assets in the Strait of Hormuz and prevent an accidental war.”
In short, this legislation creates a protocol to preserve peace.
As Commander Harlan Ullman (Ret.) stated, “An incidents at sea agreement for the Gulf makes sense. Indeed, such an agreement could include each of the navies operating in the Gulf to prevent an incident from inadvertently turning into a crisis because one or another party made a miscalculation or mistake.”
Write your Congressperson today, and tell them you support H. Con. Res. 94.
