On Nov. 7, 2007, Dr. Flynt Leverett, Senior Fellow and Director of the Geopolitics of Energy Initiative at the New America Foundation, testified before the U.S. House of Representative's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs,

In his opening remarks, Leverett declared:

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Bush Administration’s refusal to pursue comprehensive, strategic engagement with the Islamic Republic of Iran is profoundly misguided, and is imposing real costs on American interests in the Middle East and the war on terror. In recent years, a growing body of politicians, distinguished foreign policy hands, and eminent persons’ groups -- including a Council on Foreign Relations Task Force and the Iraq Study Group -- has advocated more sustained U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran.

In almost all instances, recommendations for diplomatic engagement with Iran take an incremental approach. In this approach, the United States would identify particular areas where American and Iranian interests presumably overlap -- e.g., post-conflict stabilization in Iraq or counter-narcotics initiatives in Afghanistan -- and engage Tehran on those specific issues. Assuming that Washington and Tehran were able to cooperate productively on those issues, establishing a minimum level of “confidence”, the range of issues under discussion could be gradually expanded.

The prepared text of Leverett's full testimony is included below in PDF form.