The President of the United States of America The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20500 November 7, 2013 Dear Mr. President, We applaud your decision to use diplomacy vigorously in an effort to reach agreements with Iran, particularly given President Hassan Rouhani's apparent openness to greater transparency and internationally-accepted and verifiable limits on Iran's nuclear program. The hard work of diplomacy begins now. Decades of distrust and lack of contact between the two countries will complicate the task of reaching agreements that will provide us the assurance we require that Iran's nuclear program will be used only for peaceful purposes. You will undoubtedly face opposition to your decision to engage Iran. We support this new policy and pledge to help our fellow Americans appreciate the ambitious and transformative course you have chosen to build a more peaceful and more cooperative environment in the Middle East. The diplomatic option is the right one at this time in view of the initiatives taken by the Iranian government that were made possible in part by your past policies. We wish you well in this constructive and important new undertaking. Respectfully, Morton Abramowitz, former Ambassador to Thailand and Turkey Michael Armacost, former Ambassador to Japan and the Philippines Brian Atwood, former Under Secretary of State and Administrator of USAID Robert Mason Beecroft, former Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe John Beyrle, former Ambassador to Russia and Bulgaria Hamid Biglari, former Vice Chairman of Citigroup Barbara K. Bodine, former Ambassador to Yemen Avis Bohlen, former Ambassador to Bulgaria and former Assistant Secretary for Arms Control Richard Boucher, former Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Ambassador to Cyprus Kenneth L. Brown, former Ambassador to Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Republic of Congo Peter Burleigh, former Ambassador for Counter-terrorism and to the United Nations, Sri Lanka and the Maldives Wendy Chamberlin, former Ambassador to Pakistan Stephen Cheney, Brigadier General of the Unites States Marine Corps (RET)

Joseph Cirincione, President, Ploughshares Fund Elinor Constable, former Ambassador to Kenya William Courtney, former Ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia Chester A, Crocker, former Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs Ryan Crocker, former Ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan Walter Cutler, former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Zaire Suzanne DiMaggio, Asia Society Theodore L. Eliot Jr, former Ambassador to Afghanistan Nancy Ely-Raphel, former Ambassador to Slovenia Bill Farrand, former Ambassador to Papua New Guinea Leslie H. Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations Robert S. Gelbard, former Ambassador to Indonesia Edward W. Gnehm, former Ambassador to Kuwait, Jordan and Australia Lee H. Hamilton, former member of the United States House of Representatives William Harrop, former Ambassador to Israel and State Department Inspector General Stephen Heintz, President, Rockefeller Brothers Fund Christopher Hill, former Ambassador to Iraq, Macedonia, Poland and Korea Carla Hills, former U.S. Trade Representative and United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Heather M. Hodges, former Ambassador to Ecuador and Moldova Allen Holmes, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict William J. vanden Heuvel, former Ambassador to the United Nations Thomas L. Hughes, former Assistant Secretary of State (INR) Robert Hunter, former Ambassador to NATO Dennis Jett, former Ambassador to Peru and Mozambique James R. Jones, former US Ambassador to Mexico Richard D. Kauzlarich, former Ambassador to Azerbaijan Daniel Kurtzer, former Ambassador to Israel and Egypt Bruce Laingen, former Ambassador to Malta George W. Landau, former Ambassador to Chile, Venezuela and Paraguay John Limbert, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran and former Ambassador to Mauritania Frank Loy, former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs William H. Luers, former Ambassador to Venezuela and Czechoslovakia Princeton Lyman, former Ambassador to Nigeria and South Africa Jessica T. Mathews, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Jack Matlock, former Ambassador to the Soviet Union Richard McCormack, former Ambassador to the Organization of American States and Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs Thomas E. McNamara, former Ambassador to Columbia and former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs William B. Milam, former Ambassador to Pakistan and Bangladesh Thomas Miller, former Ambassador to Greece and Bosnia-Herzegovina William G. Miller, former Ambassador to Ukraine Cameron Munter, former Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Murphy, former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Syria, the Philippines

Gregory Newbold, Lieutenant General United States Marine Corps (RET) Ronald Neumann, former Ambassador Afghanistan, Algeria and Bahrain Thomas Niles, former Ambassador Canada, European Union, and Greece Joseph Nye, former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Paul Pillar, formerly Central Intelligence Agency Thomas R. Pickering, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and former Ambassador to Israel, India Jordan, Russia and the United Nations Anthony Quainton, former Ambassador to Kuwait William A. Reinsch, National Foreign Trade Council William A. Rugh, former Ambassador to Yemen and the United Arab Emirates Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Gary Sick, Columbia University Anne-Marie Slaughter, President, New America Foundation Ronald I Spiers, former Ambassador to Pakistan, Turkey, former Under Secretary of State Nicholas Veliotes, former Asst. Secretary of State for the Middle East and South Asia, Ambassador to Jordan and Egypt Richard Viets, former Ambassador to Jordan James Walsh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alexander F. Watson, former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, former Ambassador to Peru Allan Wendt, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Energy Policy, former Ambassador to Slovenia John Whitehead, former Deputy Secretary of State Amb. Philip C. Wilcox, former Ambassador at Large for Counterterrorism Lawrence Wilkerson, United States Army Colonel (RET) and former Chief of Staff to United States Secretary of State Ross Wilson, former Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan Timothy Wirth, former United States Senator and Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Frank G. Wisner, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Ambassador to Egypt and India