Not Too Soon to Say We’re Sorry: Reflections on the Iran War, Apologies, and Reparations

by Timothy Kirchoff

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As I write this, the United States seems to finally be on the verge of a peace deal that will conclude the unjust and unnecessary war with Iran. Other commentators have already pointed out that the peace deal does not seem to meet many, if any, of the major stated goals or justifications for the war. From the destruction of the Iranian nuclear program and ballistic missile capability, to the end of Iran’s theocratic regime, to the restoration of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to its pre-war status quo, none of these aims appears to have been accomplished by the war or permanently secured by the deal.

Indeed, the terms of the peace deal seem fairly favorable to Iran. The tentative peace terms include a $300 billion reconstruction fund, the end of all US sanctions against Iran, and the release of frozen Iranian assets. 

A rational observer could easily conclude that this peace deal constitutes a humiliating defeat for the United States, which has expended tremendous military resources and international credibility in advancing a war that has done severe damage to the world’s economy, to say nothing of the damage to Iran’s people. Viewed in this way, accepting, if only implicitly, the humiliation of this deal is the most notable act of justice I can name from the current administration.

But if the men who lead this administration are incapable of articulating an apology for the reckless and needless war, it is still possible for the American people, in whose name they waged this war, to both feel and articulate sincere sorrow to Iranians over what our government has done to their country. Hegemony does not, in fact, mean never having to say you’re sorry. Even if it feels like it ought to go without saying, there is still value in apologizing.

Indeed, among the most noted passages from Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas is his apology for the Catholic Church’s role in perpetuating the evils of slavery (Sections 176-177). Although legal slavery is no longer practiced, and Pope Leo XIII denounced slavery in his own 19th century encyclical In Plurimis, no one had offered an apology on behalf of the Catholic Church as an institution for its failure to recognize and uphold the full dignity of enslaved people. 

Pope Leo XIV’s apology made so many headlines not because it surprised people to hear that the Church does not accept slavery, but because Pope Leo is demonstrating willingness to confront past evils directly. In asking sincerely for the pardon of all those who have suffered because of the Church’s long history of legitimizing slavery, Leo is demonstrating genuine moral leadership. His apology is notable for its symbolic value, even if it is not accompanied by any material reparation.

The President offers reparations to Iran without the prospect for acknowledgment or apology—and the reparations have been extracted from the United States under threat of economic catastrophe tied to the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The Pope offers acknowledgment and apology to the victims of slavery without many prospects for direct material reparation. 

A group of religious sisters, though, offer a potential example of combining apology and willing reparation. In an article in Commonweal magazine, Regina Munch documented the process through which a religious order, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, transferred a property to the Lac du Flambeau band of the Lake Superior Chippewa. The article also delved deeper into what apologies and reparations can look like and accomplish. 

The religious order, recognizing its declining numbers, faced a choice of what to do with the various properties they owned but could no longer care for. After deliberation, the order reached out to the tribe that they determined had the best claim to the lakefront territory they were prepared to relinquish. 

In the process of handing over the land, both the sisters and the Chippewa went beyond merely what was necessary for the legal transfer of  the land. They built trust between the groups and genuine friendships between individuals. Araia Breedlove, the public-relations director of the Lac du Flambeau Tribe, said, “I always joke that [Sr. Sue Ernster, the religious order’s president] and I are going on tour together—I have gained someone I will love for life.”

The Commonweal article places the return of this plot of land within the context of the Catholic Church’s deeply troubled and troubling past with Indigenous people. The article points out how half-hearted apologies from Pope Francis and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops failed to resonate because they shifted blame for atrocities against Indigenous peoples away from the Church and toward the secular government. Time spent musing about how someone else is really more at fault takes the impact out of the apology. 

Brittany Koteles, the director of the foundation that facilitated the transfer between the sisters and the Chippewa, put it this way: “The conversation about reparations can make it sound like the Church has to say sorry and be quiet, but it’s more powerful to say sorry and be loud [emphasis in original].”

The reception of Pope Leo’s sincere apology suggests that this statement is correct. Although Leo wields very little direct political power, he is both the world’s most visible Catholic and a highly visible American, and so sets a very public example of what an apology can look like. As for what the apology can accomplish—well, that depends on whether it opens a sincere conversation between the affected groups. 

It is not too soon for us, as Americans, to say sorry to the Iranian people whose lives our country has devastated, nor is it too soon for us to apologize to the Venezuelan or Cuban people  or to the victims of ICE. Nor is it too late to apologize to the descendants of slaves or Indigenous people. 

Through these apologies, even if they come from those of us without direct military or political  power, we can build the kinds of relationships that will be necessary for us to build a just peace in the wake of the conflicts that America keeps choosing. I sincerely hope that genuine American humility will do more to bring peace and prosperity to the people of Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba than the decades of American hostility have.