One state supporting the ban treaty negotiations, Iran, can play a unique role in making the talks a success. Three chief reasons explain why Iran can and should be a strong advocate to advance the causes of nuclear non-proliferation and the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
“This is why Iran should play a major role in the negotiations to ban nuclear weapons,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, The Independent, June 14, 2017.
There is no effective and determining lobby and “track II diplomacy” between Iran and the United States, or at least, if such lobby exists, it is weaker and less efficient than ever. Even those Iranians with dual citizenship, who on their own discretion make efforts to counter the existing sanctions and pressures against Iran and modify the US public opinion, are not supported and are even under mounting pressure from lobby groups affiliated with Israel, Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries that are active against Iran.
“The State of Public Diplomacy in Iran’s Foreign Policy,” Interview with Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Iran Review, June 10, 2017.
SPEAKERS -Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist, Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University
Banafsheh Keynoush, Foreign Affairs Scholar and Author
Fred H. Lawson, Senior Fellow, Centre for Syrian Studies, University of St. Andrews
MODERATOR: Jessica Tuchman Mathews, Distinguished Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“US, Iran, Saudi Arabia: A New Diplomatic Calculus?” World Affairs Council, June 27, 2017.
Mousavian rejects the accusations of Pres. Donald Trump that Iran supports terrorism in the Middle East, arguing that they are both fighting the same enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan. The same two countries have accused Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, respectively, of sponsoring terrorism.
“Iran’s Next Challenges,” Red Dirt Report, June 16, 2017.
“The reality is that the Tehran attacks highlight the common threat faced by nations across the world from groups such as ISIS. Whether in San Bernardino, London, Paris, Baghdad, Kabul or the heart of Iran, innocent people everywhere are in the same boat in the face of this barbarity. Iran, seemingly unbeknownst to Trump, has since its 1979 revolution been a chief victim of both terrorism and state violence.”
“Tehran Terrorist Attacks Risk Unleashing All-Out War Between Iran And Saudi Arabia,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, The Huffington Post, June 8, 2017.
“The reality is that even if Saudi claims are accurate and Persian Gulf countries are concerned about Iran’s supposed quest for hegemony, after Iran these same countries are also concerned about Saudi attempts to establish hegemony in the Persian Gulf.”
“Fmr. diplomat: Regional dilemmas should be solved through dialogue,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian and Yassin El-Ayouty, IRNA, June 7, 2017.
“In this UpFront special, Mehdi Hasan challenges Iranian policymaker and former diplomat Hossein Mousavian to explain Iran’s policies in the region and what some see as the double standards with regards to Yemen and Bahrain.”
“What is Iran’s endgame in Syria?” Al Jazeera UpFront, May 26, 2017.
“On the margins of a Carnegie conference, Nikolay Koshanov and Hossein Mousavian discuss Russia’s and Iran’s role in the Syrian conflict.”
“Syria’s Implacable Vortex: Part 2,” Carnegie Middle East Center, May 12, 2017.
“Tehran’s assessment of the Trump administration is that it doesn’t have a solid strategy,” said Seyed Hossein Mousavian, who was a member of Iran’s negotiating team that agreed in 2003 to suspend uranium enrichment and is now a scholar at Princeton. “So Iran will be patient to see what the strategy will be.”
“Other countries are still trying to figure out what Trump means to them,” Erin Cunningham et al, The Washington Post, April 28, 2017.
Now is the time for global and regional powers to implement a comprehensive plan for peace in Afghanistan. “Everywhere you look, if there is trouble inside the region you find Iran,” U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis recently declared. However, he should not forget that the chief reason for the successful 2001 overthrow of the Taliban was largely due to Iranian cooperation. At the time, in response, Iran was slapped with the “axis of evil” designation and the U.S. sought to marginalize it from Afghanistan, which only served to contribute to the country’s deteriorating situation.
“Resolving the Afghanistan crisis, Peace requires global buy-in, not more bombs,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, The Washington Times, April 25, 2017.
