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Washington, DC- "If we engage in talks or negotiations with Iranians and the only thing we discuss is the nuclear issue, we will fail," said Ambassador John Limbert, Professor of International Affairs at the U.S. Naval Academy. Limbert emphasized the need to broaden the agenda in dealing with Iran, saying the Obama administration has been too focused on the nuclear issue alone.

The discussion at the US Institute of Peace coincided with the release of a book by Limbert, a former US diplomat and hostage in Iran, called Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History. He was joined by Farideh Farhi of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Kenneth Pollack, Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Farhi argued that now is "a bad time to engage in negotiations." Farhi questioned the seriousness of both governments, highlighting the Obama administration threats of "crippling sanctions" and the deep conflicts within the Iranian government and turmoil within its civil society as factors that could undermine international talks set to begin October 1^st. 

She added, "If we go the sanctions route, it is this civil society that will be shut out and undermined further."

Pollack similarly expressed concerns about the talks, arguing the Iranian government does not seem prepared to enter serious negotiations. All were in agreement that the process of negotiations would be long and arduous. 

But Limbert argued talks must go forward, recalling his experience at the State Department, where "now is not the time" for diplomacy with Iran was a common refrain, he said. When asked about a possible approach by the US administration to abstain from talks and state that it does not recognize the current regime and instead chooses to wait for better conditions, Limbert responded that that is essentially what the United States has been doing with Iran for the past thirty years, to no avail.

Pollack credited the Obama administration with positively changing the tone of US-Iran relations, saying he sees its commitment to negotiations as genuine, but he added the administration should "stop introducing artificial timelines" for diplomacy. Instead, Pollack said the U.S. and Iran need to make a strategic commitment to negotiations in a sustained, long-term effort, rather than approaching negotiations as a short-term tactical move.

Pollack posited that limiting Iran's nuclear program is a more realistic goal than seeking a full cessation of uranium enrichment. He was also skeptical that Iran would accept a proposal based on the "freeze for freeze" offer first put forward under the Bush administration. One avenue for progress on the nuclear issue, he said, lies in getting Iran to ratify and implement the Additional Protocol of the Nonproliferation Treaty, which grants far more expansive powers to the International Atomic Energy Agency's nuclear inspectors to seek out and prevent any covert nuclear programs.