“In 1990, when I was about to leave Iran for the mission to Germany, Ayatollah Hashemi told me that the Supreme Leader’s policy, hence our benchmark policy, was ‘West minus US’. Utmost efforts had to be taken to improve ties with Europe. In the meantime, if an opportunity came up for détente with the US, it had to be seized.”
“West Minus US: Hashemi Rafsanjani’s foreign policy in an interview with Hossein Mousavian,” The Iran Project, January 19, 2017.
“U.S.-Iran Relations,” Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, September 9, 2016.
“U.S.-Iran Relations: How should the new president engage?” Talk at Oklahoma City University, September 9, 2016.
Saudi leaders must understand that Iran, regardless of its government, will always play a major regional role. This is primarily due to its structural characteristics, its strategic location and size, its demographics and natural resources, and a millennia-spanning history of unbroken statehood. Today, Iran is a nation of 80 million, endowed with the world’s largest combined oil and natural gas reserves, an increasingly diversified economy, self-reliance in key economic and security matters, and a highly educated population.
“Ending the Iran-Saudi Cold War,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian and Sina Toossi, LobeLog, September 19, 2016.
The United States, along with France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia, reached a historic deal with Iran last July that lifts most sanctions in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program. The deal, codified in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and endorsed by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, specifically includes allowing non-American banks to operate in Iran.
“Obama Needs to Protect the Iran Deal,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian and Reza Nasri, The New York Times, June 20, 2016.
The nuclear deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 world powers last summer, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was predicated on a basic give-and-take. In exchange for Iran agreeing to intrusive international inspections and monitoring and limits on its enrichment and heavy water capacity for a confidence-building period, the P5+1 would respect Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment and remove all nuclear-related sanctions. Today, the future of this quid pro quo is under threat — and not from the Iranian side.
“U.S. Torpedoing the Nuclear Deal Will Reaffirm Iran’s Distrust,” Hossein Mousavian and Sina Toossi, The Huffington Post, April 29, 2016.
Following the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action last year, the United States has been attempting to assure its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) allies that this will not open the way to Iranian-US rapprochement. “My view has never been that we should throw our traditional allies overboard in favor of Iran,” President Barack Obama has publicly declared. In this vein, Obama is scheduled to soon arrive in Saudi Arabia, which is set to host a GCC summit, gathering the organization’s other member states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
“How Obama can push the Saudis to talk to Iran,” Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, April 19, 2016.
Addressing meeting of Global Relations Council in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, Syyed Hossein Mousavian described the relations between Iran and the US as the most complicated in today’s world of diplomacy.
“Iran showed goodwill to remove US hostility: Mousavian,” The Iran Project, April 2, 2016.
The Middle East is facing a total collapse. An ideology of terror is spreading, and dysfunctional Arab governments do not offer their people dignified alternatives to extremism. The decay is embedded in two smoldering crises: the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, which has made millions refugees and contributed to regional instability for decades; and the conflict between Saudi Arabia, a leading Sunni power, and Iran, a leading Shia power, which has entangled civil war and sectarianism in the region.
“Saudi-Arabien und Iran sollten zusammenarbeiten,” Hossein Mousavian, Frankfurter Allgemeine, April 4, 2016.
“Iran’s Parliamentary Elections,” Asieh Namdar, CCTV, February 25, 2016.
