Former Iranian Ambassador to Germany Seyed Hossein Mousavian said Biden’s decision is what the West seeks and the repercussions will not bring peace and security.

Speaking to Sputnik, Mousavian said, “Unfortunately, there is no credible international initiative to end the Ukraine war, and the strategy of NATO member countries is based on prolonging this war”, suggesting an international peace initiative that stops NATO from expanding to Russian borders and by holding free UN-supervised elections in territories gained by Russia in Ukraine.

“The majority vote will determine the fate of these territories,” Mousavian said. 

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-prolonging-ukraine-war-by-sending-weapons-to-strike-russi

Germany weights to be a peacemaker

Why Diplomacy for a region on the brink

Körber-Stiftung: Mr Mousavian, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. What does that mean for the country?

Hossein Mousavian: I don’t think there will be any major changes in Iran’s domestic and foreign policies. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has said that Iran will continue the same policies as in the era of President Raisi. But the race in the upcoming presidential election will be between the radical conservatives and the moderate conservatives. The latter faction could increase the chances of easing tensions between Iran and the West.

You were in prison in Iran because of a dispute with the regime. What have you done wrong?

I was imprisoned in Iran and accused of spying for the West. Although I was cleared of the charges, the court sentenced me to two years’ imprisonment on probation and a ban from holding a diplomatic post because I opposed President Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy, particularly his nuclear policy. Ahmadinejad pushed to have me removed from the Foreign Ministry. That’s why I left Iran in 2009. In 2022, another court sentenced to 11 months in prison. That’s why I couldn’t attend my father’s funeral.

After you left Iran, you began your academic work at Princeton University. Now at Princeton University in the United States, people are calling for your dismissal because of your ties to the Iranian regime. Why do people want you to be fired?

My focus here has been on how we can resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis, how we can de-escalate tensions between the United States and Iran, and how we can bring peace to the whole region. But there are forces against such schools of thought. That’s why, during my 15 years of work at Princeton, I was constantly attacked. The fact is that the hawkish forces, including some in the Iranian opposition, want war and sanctions against Iran. That’s why they are attacking me.

These people also accuse you of being involved in the assassination of 24 Iranians, when you were ambassador to Germany.

The 398 pages of the Berlin court’s (Kammergericht) verdict issued in April 1997 are public and anyone can read it. There is no accusation against me at all. The German and European governments know that I was never involved in such affairs. All my efforts were to promote Iran-EU relations. Now the radicals in Iran accuse me of being a puppet of the West and the warmongers in the United States accuse me of being a puppet of the Iranian government. Both are wrong.

How do you react to that?

I try to continue my work. My books, interviews and talks are all about peace because I want peace between Iran and its neighbors, the United States and the EU.

It looks like Hamas is going to be defeated in Gaza, while Iran’s relations with the United States are extremely tense. Bad time for peace?

I don’t think Israel can defeat Hamas. Hamas is not a group. It is a school of thought of millions of Palestinians. It really broke the notion of Israel’s security as untouchable that Iran has attacked Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles. That’s why I think Netanyahu made a big mistake by attacking Iranian Consulate in Damascus.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock disagrees. She says Iran miscalculated with the attack on Israel and has brought more sanctions against itself.

I think the foreign minister is extreme on some foreign policy issues. I have always believed that Germany has the weight and the potential to be a peacemaker between Muslim countries and the West. But with its current foreign policy I believe Germany is distracting itself from its role as a major player in peacemaking.

Our The Berlin Pulse survey shows that Germans prefer international restraint over engagement. Aren’t you expecting too much from Germany?

It depends how you understand restraint. I think the Germans would prefer not to engage in increasing hostilities and supporting wars and sanctions. But what if Germany would be proactive in peacemaking?

You left the nuclear negotiating team in Iran in 2005 when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president. What happened?

Iran’s national currency depreciated dramatically and inflation soared to 40 per cent. This led the Americans and Israelis to think that Iran would capitulate under the pressure. But Iran reacted differently. It made Iran increase the level and capacity of its nuclear programme to the point where the number of months it would take Iran to produce uranium for a nuclear weapon dropped to two in 2013.

Then the Iran nuclear deal was negotiated, which Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. Do sanctions always lead to an increase in nuclear capability?

The sanctions were also a reason for Iran to come to serious negotiations for the Iran nuclear deal in 2013. But, from the other side, Iran reached a two-month breakout time to build nuclear weapons. That made the West understand that if they continued with more sanctions, Iran would resist and build nuclear weapons. I believe that sanctions also now in 2024 are not a solution. The only way is diplomacy.

Now Iran is signaling that it is closer than ever to building nuclear weapons. You suggest diplomacy even though Iran’s leadership has become more radical?

The sanctions have caused enormous economic damage to Iran, but on the other hand they have made Iran increase the level and capacity of its nuclear program. Look at the threatening policies of the United States, followed by Israel and the EU. Who won? Everybody has lost.

Thank you for your time, Mr Mousavian.

Here is the tweet: Körber-Stiftung IP auf X: „#Iran’s attack on #Israel has fueled fears of further escalation and poses a direct threat to Israel. Why Princeton University’s @hmousavian still believes in diplomacy for a region on the brink. #TheBerlinPulse in cooperation with @Table_Media_ 👉https://t.co/1aRbRucYCH“ / X

And here is German version from Table.Media: Princeton-Politologe zum Iran: „Sanktionen sind keine Lösung“ • Table.Briefings

https://koerber-stiftung.de/projekte/the-berlin-pulse/interview-hossein-mousavian/

پیروزی اصولگرایان معتدل در انتخابات می‌تواند تنش‌ها بین ایران و غرب را کاهش دهد

من در سال 1386 در ایران بازداشت و زندانی و به جاسوسی برای غرب متهم شدم. اگرچه در نهایت از اتهامات تبرئه شدم، اما دادگاه مرا به دو سال حبس تعلیقی و پنج سال محرومیت از پست دیپلماتیک محکوم کرد، زیرا با سیاست خارجی رئیس‌جمهور آقای احمدی‌نژاد، به‌ویژه سیاست هسته‌ای او، مخالف بودم. آقای احمدی‌نژاد تلاش کرد مرا از وزارت امور خارجه حذف کند. به همین دلیل در سال ۲۰۰۹ مجبور به مهاجرت شدم. منتهی باز هم دو سال قبل یعنی در سال ۲۰۲۲، دادگاه دیگری مرا به ۱۱ ماه حبس محکوم کرد. به همین دلیل حتی نتوانستم در مراسم تشییع جنازه پدرم شرکت کنم

 
تمرکز من در مدت کار آکادمیک در دانشگاه پرینستون بر چگونگی حل صلح آمیز بحران هسته‌ای ایران، کاهش تنش‌ها بین ایالات متحده و ایران، و برقراری صلح در کل منطقه بوده است. اما نیروهایی وجود دارند که با چنین دیدگاه‌هایی مخالفند. به همین دلیل در طول ۱۵ سال کارم در پرینستون به طور مداوم مورد حمله قرار گرفتم. واقعیت این است که نیروهای جنگ‌طلب، از جمله برخی از اپوزیسیون ایرانی در خارج، خواهان جنگ و تحریم علیه ایران هستند. به همین دلیل است که به من حمله می‌کنند

تحریم‌ها آسیب اقتصادی بزرگی به ایران وارد کرده‌اند، اما از سوی دیگر باعث شده‌اند که ایران سطح و ظرفیت برنامه هسته‌ای خود را افزایش دهد. شما به خروجی سیاست‌های تهدیدآمیز ایالات متحده، اسرائیل و اتحادیه اروپا نگاه کنید. چه کسی پیروز شد؟ همه بازنده بوده اند. هم آمریکا و غرب و اسرائیل با زنده بوده اند و هم ایران

https://sahebkhabar.ir/news/67056344/

Summary:

• the US has been involved in 80% of all the global conflicts and wars since WWII.
•  the U.S. carried out at least 81 interventions in foreign elections during the period 1946–2000.
• the U.S. engaged in 70 attempts at regime change during the Cold War.
• A total of 23 countries are under U.S. sanctions, the US had sanctions on about 10000 individuals, companies, and sectors worldwide that US policymakers.
• In short, the US regional strategy for the Persian Gulf and Middle East

has failed and China is winning the region because Beijing has focused

on technology, trade, cooperation, and investment and not destroying

its resources by engaging in wars, regime change attempts, or sanction

policy in the Middle East.

• The US should reconsider its love affair with sanctions, wars, regime changes, and interferences in other countries because they are actively undermining U.S. interests. The Middle East will never be secure or stable without achieving a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian crisis.
• In the absence of US-Iran talks and the failure to revive the nuclear deal, the possibility of regional escalation is greater than it has been in years
• Only if the US pressures Israel to call a ceasefire, helps to find a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian crisis, and then restores the Iran nuclear deal can disaster be averted.
• The leaders of the US and Iran need to find the courage to engage in a broad dialogue to achieve a comprehensive deal, including reviving the temporary agreement and the JCPOA and resolving all other disputed issues.
• If this is unrealistic, the eight countries around the Persian Gulf – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain – need to strike a grand regional deal on a new security and cooperation structure in the Gulf that includes a regional nuclear deal and a region free from nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction.

The US Needs to:

1. Focus on economic, investment, and technological cooperation rather

than sanctioning and weaponizing.

2. End dangerous and counterproductive policies of war, interference

and regime change.

3. Establish healthy and friendly relations with all countries rather than

creating alliances with some countries against other countries.

4. Support the creation of a new regional security and cooperation system

in the Persian Gulf and hand over the responsibilities to the regional

countries to maintain peace and stability rather than trying to

achieve it with tens of military bases and trillions of dollars.

5. Promote civilian diplomacy to strengthen citizen-to-citizen relations

such as tourism, athletic, academic, cultural, and social relations

based on respecting each other’s religions and cultures rather than

imposing Western cultures.

7. Last but not least, launch a comprehensive dialogue between Iran

and the US to end 40 years of animosity.

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/4c053d03682ef6c6544277431ed2de3f20240120133011/d5b29518d8852e725b71ce671561a73b20240120133011/3a6541

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce announced in mid-November it has launched an investigation into Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who has been a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist with the School of Public and International Affairs’ (SPIA) Program on Science and Global Security since 2016 and was formerly a high-ranking diplomat in Iran.

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) spearheaded a letter sent to President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 and signed by 10 other Republican committee members — of 45 total members — which included a list of questions about Mousavian and his ties to Iran. 

“Mousavian’s position on the faculty of Princeton for the past 15 years … raises significant concerns about the influence of foreign hostile regimes on American institutions,” the letter said.

The University declined to comment.

In emails to PAW, Mousavian denied that he has been acting on behalf of Iran while at Princeton: “Over the past two decades, as an academic, I’ve used every opportunity to propose peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis, and dialogue and engagement between Iran and the United States and with other countries such as Saudi Arabia. All my books, articles, speeches, and interviews during 13 years working at Princeton University are about peace, security, stability, and opposing wars and warmongering.”

Mousavian also emphasized his now contentious relationship with Iran, stating he has “not been able to go to Iran since June 2021 and I have not been engaged with any government including the government of Iran since the Iranian court convicted me in 2008,” following his arrest for espionage on behalf of Europeans.

Mousavian has claimed for years that the Iranian Intelligence Service planned to assassinate him in 1996. In 2022, he received an 11-month prison sentence from the Iranian Judiciary, which was one of the factors that prevented him from attending his father’s funeral, for his role in a 2000 real estate deal that went bad after a group of European investors Mousavian introduced to developers failed to comply with contractual commitments.

The committee’s letter asks whether Princeton consulted with U.S. government officials prior to Mousavian’s hiring and if Princeton is aware of any communications between Mousavian and Iranian officials. The committee also asked for a list of classes Mousavian has taught at Princeton, his salary, and if he has received any gifts or funding from foreign or domestic sources, among other things. The document references Xiyue Wang, who was imprisoned in Iran for three years while he was a Princeton doctoral student, and Elizabeth Tsurkov, who was abducted from Iraq in March, by asking if Mousavian made any efforts to free the two students.

In a recent interview with Iran International, Wang said that after his arrest, “I asked Princeton to ask Mousavian to help. And Mousavian decided not to do anything. When you have a person with that level of connections in your institution, you would expect he would act.”

“How can I help an American student arrested in Iran while I even cannot travel to Iran to attend my father’s funeral?” Mousavian asked PAW.

Mousavian has also been criticized by politicians and the news media in the past, most recently for attending the 2020 funeral of Qasem Soleimani, who was considered a terrorist by the United States and was assassinated by a U.S. airstrike during the Trump administration. Mousavian was in Iran at the time to visit his ailing mother, he said, and was interested in public reaction to the assassination. News reports at the time counted millions of mourners. Mousavian’s detractors also cite an interview with an Iranian television station following the event where some say Mousavian appeared to smile as he commented on the fears of an American envoy’s wife that her diplomat husband would be assassinated.

“I have always opposed assassinations and threats of assassination against both Iranian and U.S. nationals because it is against the UN Charter and a violation of international rules and regulations,” Mousavian said in his statement to PAW.

Mousavian was born in Iran, where he started his career as a journalist before turning to politics in the 1980s. From 1990 to 1997, he was Iran’s ambassador to Germany. According to his website, Mousavian helped to secure the release of German, American, and other hostages held in Lebanon in the 1990s and contributed “to the mediation of the largest-ever humanitarian exchange between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah under Germany’s auspices” from 1995 to 1996.

Upon his return to Iran, Mousavian became head of the foreign relations committee of the National Security Council and “played a role in Iran’s cooperation with the U.S. in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in 2001,” according to his website.

Mousavian was the chief spokesman for Iran’s nuclear negotiating team from 2003 to 2005, and then became both a foreign policy adviser to the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and vice president of the Center for Strategic Research for International Affairs, before coming to Princeton in 2009.

The House letter stated: “In recent decades, Mousavian’s relationship with Iran became more complex and unclear.” 

Mousavian told PAW he was one of the academics who “contributed as much as I could to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis through diplomacy and preventing another war in the Middle East,” which culminated in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. “That’s all and nothing more.”

According to Fox News Digital, McClain said, “Higher education has bowed down to the radical left and enemies of America for far too long, and the mere fact that a former member of the Iranian regime is given a platform at Princeton is proof.” 

The letter requested a response within six weeks.

https://paw.princeton.edu/article/us-house-committee-investigating-spia-specialists-iranian-ties

In response, Mousavian wrote that “This another lie. The 398-page verdict is published and everyone can have access to it. The Berlin court verdict does not contain any direct or indirect allegations against me.” He added that German authorities never forced him to leave the country and that the court verdict was issued in April 1997, and his seven-year assignment as ambassador was terminated less than a year later in early 1998. “Since then, I have been a frequent visitor to Germany,” he added.

“However, a group of rogue elements at the Iranian intelligence Service plotted to assassinate me during my mission in Germany as the Ambassador, but they were unsuccessful,” he wrote. Later, the killing team were arrested in Iran and confessed that they planned to assassinate me in Germany during December 1996 Christmas holidays actually a few months before the Mykonos Court verdict which issued in April 1997.”