A GROUP of prominent Americans has urged the incoming administration of Donald Trump to work with the Iranian opposition when they take office.

The call came in a letter from almost two dozen individuals, including former high-ranking military and security officials, politicians and academics.

Their letter, a copy of which was sent to The National, addressed the failure of US foreign policy towards the fundamentalist government of Iran; the shortfalls of the Joint Comprehensive Program of Action (JCPOA) that allowed the relaxation of some sanctions against Iran; and a recommendation that a dialogue be opened with the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

They say: “President Obama expressed the hope that nuclear negotiations would induce Iran’s leaders to act with greater consideration of American interests. It is now clear that Iran’s leaders have shown no interest in reciprocating the US overture beyond the terms of the JCPOA, which gained them significant rewards. Through their extremely high rate of executions at home, and destructive sectarian warfare in support of the Assad regime in Syria and proxy Shiite militias in Iraq, Iran’s rulers have directly targeted US strategic interests, policies and principles, and those of our allies and friends in the Middle East.

“To restore American influence and credibility in the world, the United States needs a revised policy based on universally shared norms and principles reflecting the ideals of peace and justice. A policy highlighting, and demanding an end to, Iran’s domestic human rights violations and malevolent regional actions will attract broad support and generate needed leverage against Iran’s threatening behaviour.”

The signatories said that twice in the past two years a large, bipartisan group of former US officials and policy experts, including most of them, had issued recommendations for a more principled policy.

They had consistently advocated a policy that, by recognising the basic rights of the Iranian people to exercise their sovereign franchise “free of brutal repression”, would put the US on the right side of history.

“The Iranian Supreme Leader’s interest in pursuing a nuclear weapons capability is based not on legitimate concerns of self-defence for his country, but on preserving a vulnerable system of dictatorship that has lacked legitimacy from its violent inception, and dares not hold a truly free and open election,” they said. “Our policy must make clear that the clerical rulers in Tehran will be denied any opportunity to develop or obtain nuclear weapons.”

Their letter said it was clear that neither Iran, nor its Syrian or Russian allies, were committed to defeating Daesh.

Shahin Gobadi, a member of the NCRI’s foreign affairs committee, told The National from its Paris HQ that the policy shift was long overdue He said: “It is about time that the world community, including the US took a firm position vis-a-vis the clerical regime ruling Iran – the number one executioner per capita the world over and the central banker of terror – and to stand on the side of the Iranian people and the resistance in their aspiration to establish a government based on human rights and democracy.”

Trump’s transition team has not officially responded to the letter, but officials are known to have been examining proposals for sanctions that could focus on its ballistic missiles programme or its record on human rights.