In November 2013, the United States and Iran reached a long-sought interim agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear program. The tenuous arrangement reached at last year's Geneva talks potentially signals a new chapter for the future international negotiations looming on the horizon. Despite the political rapprochement that many on both sides consider a marked success, there is certainly still more work to be done. 

To build a viable relationship with Iran that has a chance at genuine longevity, one that is based on mutual trust and understanding, the United States should consider taking efforts rooted in faith-based diplomacy more seriously. This policy option would reduce tension on both sides over time, while simultaneously building confidence and acuity within an often unstable global partnership.

In Iran, religion is a major social tenet and a primary motivation for political action. The government and political systems are rooted in religious laws and values; nearly everything about daily life is carried out through the lens of religious ritual. It stands to reason, then, that if Iran’s clerics have been extremely effective at mobilizing both the Iranian public and even political figures within the government to engage Iranians as a whole, the leaders of other world powers should start with a religious frame of reference. Despite this, US diplomats and policymakers often ignore and dismiss the type of cultural engagement that incorporates religion outside of the Western purview.

This non-inclusive approach, which seems to discount a religious context entirely, is evident even when looking at proportion of the US government’s budget allocated to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), think tanks and institutes aimed at helping Iranian dissidents. Interfaith diplomatic initiatives, however, have occurred as well, but these efforts can only take on so much. The International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD), for example, sponsored a reciprocal visit of Iranian religious leaders and scholars to the United States in 2005. Prior to that, nine American religious leaders representing the three Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Islam and Judaism made the trip to Iran in 2003. In addition to visiting a number of Islamic centers — both Shiite and Sunni — and various places of worship, the delegates interacted with a number of high-level US officials, university scholars and think tank personnel.