“With tensions on the Korean peninsula at dangerous levels and loose talk of nuclear war, can the JCPOA serve as a model for averting further escalation with North Korea or will Trump’s pressure tactics push Iran to go down North Korea’s path to deter the United States?”
“Trump’s Choice: Iran Deal Model or North Korean Bomb?” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, LobeLog, October 6, 2017.
“It’s clear that decades of estrangement have led to a fundamental misunderstanding of Iran in Washington. Notwithstanding the Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations, every U.S. administration since the 1979 Iranian revolution has failed in its declared objective to contain Iran. If Trump wishes to free future generations of anxiety over U.S.-Iran tensions, he should pay careful attention to five points in formulating his Iran policy.”
“A former Iranian diplomat on what Trump needs to know about Iran,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Reuters, October 9, 2017.
“How would Iran react? Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian official who stays in close touch with his ex-colleagues, told me recently that if Trump doesn’t certify, but Congress doesn’t re-impose sanctions, and the other P5+1 negotiators assure full implementation, then Iran may continue to adhere to the agreement. But he cautioned that this line is opposed by some political factions in Iran that argue for suspending the pact if Trump challenges Iranian compliance.
As for the administration’s hope of forcing Iran to renegotiate the ‘sunset’ provisions and other details of the agreement, Mousavian says that’s a nonstarter in Tehran.”
“The nuclear issue isn’t the real Iranian challenge,” David Ignatius, The Washington Post, October 5, 2017.
“There is 24-hour surveillance, and we don’t have more than 24 hours in a day,” said Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator, now a scholar at Princeton University. “If the IAEA needs something more, they would raise it with Iran.”
“’World’s most robust’ nuclear inspection program under fire as Trump tries to rewrite the Iran deal,” Shashank Bengali, Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2017.
A conversation with:
Hussein Ibish, Senior Resident Scholar, Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
Hossein Mousavian, Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Kadir Ustun, Executive Director, SETA Foundation at Washington, DC
Moderated by: Barbara Slavin, Director, Future of Iran Initiative, Atlantic Council
Video of Ambassador Mousavian’s Remarks
“How Europe and Iran’s Neighbors View the Nuclear Deal Future,” Atlantic Council, September 25, 2017.
“As Iranian President Hassan Rouhani responds to Trump at the UN, former Iranian diplomat Seyed Hossein Mousavian says that an American withdrawal from the nuclear deal would lead Iranians to no longer trust the U.S.”
“Trump is Threatening More than Just the Iran Deal,” The Real News, September 20, 2017.
“Trump’s apparent hope that Iran will offer unilateral concessions is questioned by Iran experts. ‘I don’t believe Tehran would be ready at all to renegotiate the deal,’ said Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian official who now teaches at Princeton University but remains in touch with his ex-colleagues. He called the idea a ‘nonstarter.’”
“The right question to ask about the Iran nuclear deal,” David Ignatius, The Washington Post, September 14, 2017.
“Because Trump has put the deal in his crosshairs, advocates of diplomatic engagement with the West in Iran are being discredited. If he goes ahead with his stated wish to undo it, a domestic consensus will form not to trust, negotiate or cooperate with the United States on any future issue.”
“What to expect if Trump undoes the Iran nuclear deal,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, The Los Angeles Times, September 14, 2017.
“An informed source in Washington who asked to remain anonymous told Al-Monitor that the White House is seeking ways to accuse Iran of technical noncompliance and material breaches of the deal, such as pressuring the International Atomic Energy Agency into demanding access to sensitive military facilities in Iran and using an Iranian rejection as a pretext for withdrawing from the deal; renegotiating the deal to get zero uranium enrichment in Iran or make the current limits on the Iranian nuclear program permanent; and trying to validate a 2016 German intelligence report claiming Iran continued “illegal proliferation-sensitive procurement activities,” despite the fact it was already dismissed by the Barack Obama administration and independent experts.”
“Trump’s options on the nuclear deal with Iran,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, August 1, 2017.
“At its root, the underlying reason behind misconstrued perceptions of Iran’s foreign policy intentions is the lack of dialogue between regional powers. As things stand, there are no fora for regional powers to communicate their concerns and grievances to one another. Instead, rival states resort to self-serving narratives to gain influence in the realm of public opinion.”
“Understanding Iranian threat perceptions,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, July 14, 2017.
