Letter: Iranians have good reason to distrust US

Iran of course is the largest country in the middle east. It is the former Persian Empire with a highly educated people and 3,000 year old culture. They are not animals. They want peace, prosperity and justice for the Palestinians.

Their leaders don't trust America, because our CIA helped overthrow their democratic government in 1953, and installed the Shah as dictator. He used his secret police, the Savak, to torture and maintain power until the current regime overthrew him in 1979.

We broke diplomatic relations, they took hostages, they gave them back, and we all stopped talking. Now we find the Iranians helping Iraq and us defeat ISIS, who do behave like animals.

The problem is that Israel has about 80 atomic bombs pointed at Iran, and has threatened to use them, because Iran is supporting groups of people (it calls terrorists) fighting for Palestinian rights. So Iran has started to do the work to build its own bomb, and it is about two months away now.

So, we and the other most powerful nations in the world have been negotiating to persuade Iran not to build the bomb. So they have agreed to give us all their necessary enriched uranium and lots of other things, and we will end some of the sanctions, allow trade, and let them have their impounded money back.

The best thing is that by talking with Iran at the highest levels and allowing trade like we have with Germany, Japan and Vietnam, we may be able to settle our differences peacefully. Even Donald Trump would do this deal in his heart.

The writer lives in Myrtle Beach

This story was originally published August 8, 2015 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Letter: Iranians have good reason to distrust US."