Since I was released from Tehran's notorious Evin Prison last month, the questions have come again and again: Should the Obama administration have a dialogue with Iran? Can we still talk to these people? What should the West do in nuclear negotiations?
After being jailed, interrogated and beaten by the Revolutionary Guards for 118 days for reporting honestly on the disputed June 12 presidential elections, many expect me to oppose any dialogue. But the West still needs Iran and should continue talking to it – no matter what it has done to people like me.
Inside Evin, I was forced to confess that I was part of an insidious Western media conspiracy to overthrow the regime. I was forced to apologize to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
I was released as suddenly as I was arrested, without explanation. But my interrogator told me to send a message to the world: “We are a superpower. America's power is waning and we will soon overtake them. Now that Americans have started this war against us, we will not let them rest in peace.”
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