It seems that back in 2003, Iran sent a document to the U.S. in which they proposed to recognise Israel and stop funding anti-Israel organisations such as Hamas, and even Hezbollah.

The March 2002 Beirut declaration represented the Arab League’s first official acceptance of the land-for-peace principle as well as a comprehensive peace with Israel in return for Israel’s withdrawal to the territory it had controlled before the 1967 war. Iran’s proposed concession on the issue would have aligned its policy with that of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, among others with whom the United States enjoyed intimate relations.

Another concession in the document was a “stop of any material support to Palestinian opposition groups (Hamas, Jihad, etc.) from Iranian territory” along with “pressure on these organizations to stop violent actions against civilians within borders of 1967.”,1),
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Even more surprising, given the extremely close relationship between Iran and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah Shi’ite organization, the proposal offered to take “action on Hezbollah to become a mere political organization within Lebanon.”

The Americans rejected it out of hand, and even went so far as to complain to the Swiss ambassador that he would even consider forwarding the proposal to them. Something to bear in mind while listening to all the sabre-rattling about Iran now.

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