Iranian dissidents and the States

Two weeks ago I was caught up in a heated argument about the earlier meeting in the white house that day. Some thirty Iranian political activists attended a whit house meeting hosted by top U.S. officials including the National Security Council's Elliot Abrams and State Department's Iran nuclear negotiator Nicholas Burns ( NYSUN report ) . Later that day, I attended a dinner party in honor of famous Iranian dissident Akbar Ganjee. Most of the crowd that night was against the white house meeting;they were assuming that Iran and the US interests are mutually exclusive. ..What If we are convinced that the states' and Iran's interests at this historical period are not contradicting each other; if so, couldn't Iranian political activists play an informative role and act as a voice for Iranians' interests by attending such a meetings?