Saudi Arabia started 2016 shamefully by carrying out its largest mass execution since 1980, putting 47 men to death on Jan. 2. Among them were at least four prominent Shia activists, including a leader of the kingdom’s Shia minority, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. The killings have spurred a new round of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two regional powers.
“14 Reasons Why Saudi Arabia Is a Failed Mideast Power,” Hossein Mousavian, January 7, 2016.
Years from now, historians will likely look back at this period in American history as one of heightened prejudice amongst a significant portion of the public and shortsightedness amongst many political leaders. You do not even have to stretch the rhetoric of some Republican presidential candidates too much to spotmetaphors comparing Islam to Nazism! However, in this seeming contest to see who can be the most Islamophobic between the GOP presidential candidates, frontrunner Donald Trump has clearly outdone the rest.
“Targeting Muslims Is the Real Threat to Peace,” Hossein Mousavian, December 29, 2015.
Los atentados terroristas cometidos por el Estado Islámico (ISIS en sus siglas en inglés)en París y California han supuesto un antes y un después. Occidente tiene ya claro que no es posible contener al ISIS, sino que hay que derrotarlo de forma contundente. Pero hay que evitar tener una reacción desmesurada y contraproducente como la que provocaron los atentados del 11-S. La amenaza terrorista es hoy mayor que nunca. Ha llegado el momento de que las autoridades occidentales adopten estrategias nuevas y audaces, cuyo objetivo fundamental sea involucrar a todas las potencias de Oriente Próximo.
“Una estrategia sensata contra el ISIS,” Hossein Mousavian, El Pais, December 18, 2015.
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On July 14, after 12 years of crisis and negotiations, Iran and six major world powers agreed on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which marked a peaceful settlement of the Iranian nuclear dispute. The JCPOA is the most comprehensive agreement ever achieved on non-proliferation; containing the most intrusive transparency and verification mechanisms ever implemented in the history of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). It shuts down all possible “pathways” to a nuclear weapon and prevents any potential covert weapons programs as well. There is no doubt that this agreement represents the most important diplomatic and non-proliferation achievement in several decades and that the global nonproliferation regime is stronger as a result of this deal.
“‘Coalition of the Coalitions’ Needed in ISIS Fight,” Hossein Mousavian, Defense News, December 13, 2015.
The global powers that met two times in Vienna for landmark discussions on ending the war in Syria may meet again in New York this month while several hurdles remain. In a March 2015 op-ed for the National Interest, I proposed a six step plan with 10 principles to resolve the Syrian conflict. During the past two years, I have sought to promote this proposal in numerous international seminars and conferences.
“To Solve the Syria Crisis, We Need to Overcome These Three Obstacles,” Hossein Mousavian, The Huffington Post, December 7, 2015.
Ayatollah Khamenei first permitted direct negotiations between Iran and the United States on the nuclear issue after US President Barack Obama came into office, during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Direct talks were held first in Vienna in 2009 and continued in Muscat in 2012. With the election of Rouhani in June 2013, a more professional nuclear negotiating team was appointed and a more favorable international political climate for serious negotiations was created. To accommodate a nuclear deal, Ayatollah Khamenei gave permission again for direct talks between Iran and United States, allowing for the bilateral negotiations that proved to be the critical prerequisite to the nuclear deal to eventually be reached.
Indeed, it is of crucial importance to note that the Rouhani administration would not have been able to reach and uphold the nuclear deal without the support of Ayatollah Khamenei. Hard-line domestic opponents of Rouhani would have certainly killed the deal if not for the supreme leader’s explicit support for the administration and nuclear negotiators. When the parliament was debating the nuclear deal these past several months, I was in Iran and witnessed firsthand the bellicose nature of the opposition. The rhetoric reached such a level of hostility that at one point a hard-line parliament member menaced Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, threatening to put him and Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi in the “heart” of Iran’s plutonium reactor and “bury” them “in cement.”
“Will Iran’s nuclear diplomacy lead to regional solutions?” Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, November 3, 2015.
Archrivals Saudi Arabia and Iran are experiencing their first regional talks in Vienna on the Syrian conflict. Since assuming office in August 2013, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has initiated several overtures to Saudi Arabia, attempting to mend what has steadily devolved into a dangerously adversarial relationship in the years since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Rouhani, who called for better ties with Saudi Arabia shortly after his inauguration, made his first diplomatic outreach to Saudi Arabia at a critical juncture. He dispatched his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to visit several of the Arab Persian Gulf states shortly after the November 2013 interim nuclear deal was reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations.
“Why Bridging the Iran-Saudi Divide Is Vital for Peace in Syria and the Region,” Hossein Mousavian, The Huffington Post, October 30, 2015.
During his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, U.S. President Barack Obama accused Iran of using “violent proxies to advance its interests,” which he claimed served to “fuel sectarian conflict” in the region. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani shot back during his speech, decrying what he said were “baseless accusations” against Iran and calling for the United States to halt its “dangerous policies in defense of its regional allies who only cultivate the seeds of division and extremism.”
Obama and Rouhani’s comments highlight a broader issue underlying the troubled U.S.-Iran relationship. In the West, many commentators often portray Iran’s leaders as being unreasonably suspicious about the intentions of outside powers, particularly the United States. Often dovetailing with this mentality is that Iran is irrationally and innately aggressive. While President Obama’s remarks at the UNGA reflect this black-and-white thinking about Iran to a degree, other high-level U.S. officials have been far more brazen in their dishonest condemnations of Iran. For instance, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, remarkably proclaimed in a March 2015 interview that “Iran and radical Islamist extremists” have opposed the United States simply because they “do not like our way of life.”
“Why Iran Doesn’t Trust America — And What Can Be Done to Change That,” Hossein Mousavian, The Huffington Post, October 5, 2015.
The Iran nuclear deal represents the most comprehensive international agreement ever reached in the area of nuclear nonproliferation. The confidence-building measures it elicits from Iran in order to ensure that its nuclear program will remain peaceful—ranging from intrusive inspections to novel verification mechanisms—are the most powerful of their kind that a Nuclear Nonproliferation member-state has agreed to. If the objective was to certify Iran’s compliance with NPT and block all possible paths toward a bomb, then this agreement represents the maximum that could have been achieved.
“Should Congress Approve the Iran Deal?” Hossein Mousavian, Foreign affairs, September 7, 2015.
Republican intransigence over the Iran nuclear deal has proven to be futile, with Democratic senators successfully filibustering a Republican motion of disapproval last Thursday. However, this has not prevented the GOP from pursuing other inventive ways to derail this landmark diplomatic achievement. Sadly, the main consequence of dead-end Republican revanchism over the Iran deal is that it has reinforced highly insular mindsets — characterized by an “us-against-them” mentality — with respect to Iran.
In no circumstance has black and white moralizing ever given an accurate depiction of reality, least of all in regards to modern day Iran — a society far more complex and pluralistic than what many Westerners believe. By constantly shouting crude slogans denigrating Iran and spinning a spider’s web of misinformation about the country, Iran deal obstructionists are in fact acting in ways wholly counterproductive to the cause of international peace and security.
“It’s Time for Republicans to Abandon Their Short-Sighted Approach to Iran,” Hossein Mousavian, The Huffington Post, September 14, 2015.
