Calls for diplomacy with Iran:

“I think the diplomatic approach with Iran is a very important one. I would not want to take military options off the table. However, I think they clearly are options of last resort… I think that we have to be very mindful of risks associated with follow-on steps which would engage us in yet a third country in that part of the world in any kind of conflict.” – Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

“Unless there is a strategic shift, I believe we will find ourselves in a dangerous and increasingly isolated position in the coming months. I do not see how the collective actions that we are now taking will produce the results that we seek. If this continues, our ability to sustain a united international front will weaken as countries grow uncertain over our motives and unwilling to risk open confrontation with Iran, and we are left with fewer and fewer policy options.

“Now is the time for the United States to active consider when and how to offer direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with Iran.” - Republican Senator Chuck Hagel in a letter to President Bush

“Iran is not a suicide nation... I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon. I believe that we have the power to deter Iran, should it become nuclear. War, in the state-to-state sense, in that part of the region would be devastating for everybody, and we should avoid it — in my mind — to every extent that we can.”- Retired Army General John Abizaid, former head U.S. Central Command

“The United States should join Britain, France and Germany... in direct negotiations with Iran, using the model of the concurrent multilateral talks with North Korea. As it does with North Korea, the U.S. also should simultaneously engage in bilateral talks with Iran about security and financial issues of mutual concern.

“At some point, such talks could lead to a regional agreement for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East — especially after the conclusion of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement — endorsed also by all the Arab states of the region.

“For now, our choice is either to be stampeded into a reckless adventure profoundly damaging to long-term U.S. national interests or to become serious about giving negotiations with Iran a genuine chance...” - Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor to President Carter.