Nuclear talks resume tomorrow [April] 5 among Iran, the United States and five other powers in an atmosphere of decidedly restrained optimism.

It would be wonderful if these on-again, off-again negotiations led to a verifiable cap on Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief of sanctions that are impoverishing and embittering the Iranian people. But given the difficult history between Iran and the international community, it is entirely possible that no agreement will be reached. That does not mean, however, that US policy should remain unchanged.

Current US actions risk alienating Iranians, who, according to former CIA director Mike Hayden, are the most pro-American Muslim population “between Marrakesh and Bangladesh.”

Hayden is a member of the Iran Task Force of the Atlantic Council, which today is issuing a new report that urges the Barack Obama administration to alleviate the impact of sanctions on ordinary Iranians and to shore up people-to-people ties. It recommends that the US Treasury Department “designate a small number of US and private Iranian financial institutions as channels for payment for humanitarian, educational and public diplomacy-related transactions carefully licensed by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.”