US RELIGIOUS DELEGATION SEEKS TO BUILD BRIDGE OF PEACE BETWEEN IRAN, US

Mehr news agency
19 Feb 07

Tehran, 19 February: A religious delegation from the United States has
come to Iran to meet religious and political figures and the Iranian
people in order to build bridges of peace and security between Iran
and the US.

The delegation is led by the Mennonites and Quakers but includes
members of many Christian denominations of the United States.

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad visited the United States
in September 2006 to attend the United Nations General Assembly
session. Forty-six Christian and Muslim religious leaders met with
Ahmadinezhad on 20 September, 2006 in an open discussion about the
role religious communities can play in reversing the deepening crisis
between Iran and the US.

On Ahmadinezhad’s invitation, the 13-member group arrived in Tehran
early on Monday and will be staying until 25 February. Improving
relations between the people of Iran and the US is one of the main
goals of the delegation.

We are here to build bridges of peace and security between the
people of Iran and the US, Mary Ellen McNish, general secretary of
the American Friends Service Committee, said.

We are not representatives of the government and we are not sent by
them, she told reporters of the Tehran Times and the Mehr News Agency.

On their return to the US, they will directly go to Washington DC and
visit Congress to give a report on Iranians desire for peace, she said.

On the first day of their visit, the delegation met Tehran Friday
Prayer Leader Mohammad Emami-Kashani, and Archbishop Sebu Sarkissian,
the spiritual leader of the Armenian Orthodox Christians of the
Tehran diocese.

Commenting on their meeting with Kashani, McNish stated: It was so
moving to hear Islam prohibits weapons of mass destruction.

There are many people in the US who are fearful about Iran, and,
of course, they are inflamed by the media, she added.

We want both sides to forgive each other, she said.

Ron Flaming, the international programme director of the Mennonite
Central Committee, said, As long as the two countries do not talk,
there is no trust between them and walls are built up because of that.

There are misperceptions on both sides, but the delegation is trying
to promote mutual respect, he added.