English and Farsi versions of the letter to New York City mayor Bill de Blasio are below. The letter was also published by Mondoweiss. The Persian translation is available at the end.

Dear Mayor Bill de Blasio,

We are a group of Iranians and Iranian-Americans living in New York City. We are firmly committed to opposing state repression — regardless of the race, ethnicity or nationality of the people suffering, and regardless of whether the oppressive government is Iranian, American or otherwise. Throughout your mayoral campaign, we were encouraged by your call for an end to the NYPD’s systemic racial profiling of Black and Latino men under the “stop and frisk” policy. Many New Yorkers hoped that City Hall, under your leadership, would become a new and loud voice for human and civil rights.

That very same commitment to justice and human rights underscores our opposition to the devastating sanctions against the Iranian people. We were surprised and dismayed to find that the single foreign-policy position that you took as Public Advocate was calling for increasing sanctions on Iran. We were deeply concerned to see you encouraged ordinary New Yorkers to enforce the sanctions regime through your “Iran Watch List” web site, thus promoting the profiling of Iranians and aggravating post-9/11 Islamophobia. Because of sanctions, Iranians in the U.S. were arbitrarily chosen to have their bank accounts closed, and refused service at several retail stores, based on their appearance or names alone. We ask that support for sanctions against Iran be excised from your future political messaging. The Iranian people are not a threat to New Yorkers, or to any Americans, and the Iranian diaspora is a proud and integral part of this city.

We also ask that you reconsider your relationship with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Last month you addressed a private meeting with this group and said, “City Hall will always be open to AIPAC. When you need me to stand by you in Washington or anywhere, I will answer the call and I’ll answer it happily ’cause that’s my job.”

We disagree. AIPAC has relentlessly pressed for a more adversarial U.S. posture against Iran, explicitly promoting increased sanctions and implicitly pushing the U.S. to the brink of war. In a 2010 letter to members of Congress, AIPAC demanded “crippling” new sanctions on Iran. U.S. sanctions on Iran are a form of collective punishment that hurt the most vulnerable members of Iranian society first and foremost. AIPAC has similarly been a consistent supporter of Israel’s atrocious violations of Palestinian human rights.

As the mayor of NYC – one of  the most diverse cities in the world – you were elected to represent all of us who live here. We stand with those Jewish New Yorkers who have recently said in their open letter to you, “AIPAC speaks for Israel’s hard-line government and its right-wing supporters, and for them alone; it does not speak for us.” We hope that you keep all of us in mind when formulating your foreign policy perspective and withdraw your unqualified loyalty to an organization that promotes policies so destructive to the children, women and men in Iran–and in Palestine–whom so many of your constituents hold dear. When AIPAC promotes collective punishment, neither they, nor the government of Israel, share our values. When you stand by them, you do not stand by us.

Signed,

Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, Zanan TV Executive Director

Ali Abdi, Ph.D. candidate, Yale University

Ervand Abrahamian, Professor of Iranian and Middle Eastern History and Politics, CUNY

Golnar Adili

Milad Afrasiabi

Padide Alizadeh

Yahya Alkhansa, Musician

Sheila Aminmadani

Kamrooz Aram, Artist and Adjunct Faculty, Parsons The New School for Design

Amir Arman

Maryam Aryai Rivera, Raha Iranian Feminist Collective

Mohammad Asgari

Farid Ashkan

Pooyan Aslani, New York University

Shoja Azari, Artist

Sepideh Azin, Architect

Shirin Barghi, Freelance Journalist

Golbarg Bashi, Professor of History, Pace University

Anahita Basirnia

Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

Samira Darvishi, Ph.D. candidate, Stony Brook University

Saeid Divanbeigi

Bahareh Ebnealian

Kouross Esmaeli, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU

Yasmine Farhang

Ali Fouladi

Gisela Fouladi

Hadi Ghaemi

Setareh Ghandehari, Raha Iranian Feminist Collective

Arya Ghavamian, Filmmaker

Fahimeh Gooran Savadkoohi

Sara Hosseini

Koohyar Hosseini

Shima Houshyar, MA candidate, NYU

Nima Jafari, Architect

Mazdak Jafarian, Architect

Kiana Karimi

Mahdis Keshavarz, The Make Agency

Arang Keshavarzian, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, NYU

Mina Khanlarzadeh, Ph.D. candidate, Columbia University

Mana Kharrazi

Sina Mesdaghi, Associate at Handel Architects

Kamran Mirfakhraei

Ali Mirsepassi, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Sociology, NYU

Nazgol Moshtaghi

Mani Mostofi

Nahid Mozaffari

Saara Nafici, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Nicky Nodjoumi, Artist

Sara Nodjumi, Filmmaker

Nazanin Norouzi

Naseem Nowruzi

Manijeh Nasrabadi, Ph.D. candidate, NYU

Mehrnoosh Oghbaei

Afshin Parvaresh, Artist

Hamid Rahmanian, Filmmaker/Graphic Artist

Saba Riazi, Filmmaker

Reza Roodsari, MD/MPH

Bahar Sabzevari, Artist

Mehdi Saharkhiz, Art Director

Samin Sajadi

Faride Sakhaei, Artist

Saman Sarraf

Niki Shah Hosseini

Sadra Shahab, City Planner, Pratt Center for Community Development

Narges Shahroudi

Setareh Shohadaei, Ph.D. student New School for Social Research

Amin Torabkhanian

Azin Valy, Architect

Shouleh Vatanabadi

Hanif Yazdi

Rustin Zarkar, Ph.D. student, NYU

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