The United States should begin immediately to engage in low-level, good faith talks with Iran, two former national security advisors told the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Thursday. “I would not delay in these talks,” Brent Scowcroft, a former advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush. “Let's start the process now,” he added. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter agreed and offered thoughts to the committee on the need to structure any talks with the Iranians very carefully in order to maximize the chance of success. “We should be very careful to avoid any approach which, in advance, impedes the process of negotiations,” he said. “We run the risk of wanting to have our cake and eat it by engaging in polemics and diatribes with the Iranians while at the same time wanting to engage in negotiations,” Brzezinski said, adding that placing time-limits on negotiations in advance would also undermine the process. Both men agreed that Iran's nuclear program is a serious problem because of the proliferation risk it poses, but they both cautioned against ascribing apocalyptic goals of destruction to the Iranian regime when Tehran has not even openly talked of wanting to obtain nuclear weapons. Brzezinski added that he disagrees with the notion that Iran hopes to obtain a nuclear weapon to fire at Israel. “There is no evidence that Iran is a country … that is intent on suicide,” he said. “I don't think they (Israel) are existentially threatened.” However, both men agreed that Iran's regional neighbors must be consulted constantly on any U.S.-Iranian negotiations. “As we move forward, we should at some point make it clear that we are willing to extend a ‘nuclear umbrella' to all our allies in the region,” Brzezinski said. “This would have a lot of credibility.” Brzezinski told senators to consider Iran's perspective too. “You have to ask yourself how does it look to the Iranians,” he said. “Who talks about the use of force a lot and who has infinitely more force to use?” Scowcroft said U.S. negotiators could formulate a mechanism that give Iran uranium for nuclear power at a lower cost than domestic production, with a provision for removing spent fuel. He suggested it be supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency, to allay Iranian fears that their energy supply would be controlled by Western powers. “We need to make clear not only what we want from Iran, but what we're prepared to do to address their concerns,” Scrowcroft said.
