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.
“US President Donald Trump’s landmark speech in Saudi Arabia May 21 signals a reversal of policy from the Barack Obama administration and will ratchet up tensions with Iran. A day after a record-breaking 42 million Iranians signaled their desire to engage the world by re-electing President Hassan Rouhani, Trump appeared in an autocratic monarchy to call on “nations of conscience” to “isolate” Iran … Given Trump’s apparent strategy, there are at least seven perils the United States could and should avoid.”
“7 perils of Trump’s attempt to isolate Iran,” Al Monitor, Seyed Hossein Mousavian, May 22, 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.
Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former senior Iranian diplomat, analyzes the Trump administration’s “review” of the Iran nuclear agreement despite acknowledging that Tehran is fulfilling its obligations, and discusses the threat of a worsening proxy war in Yemen, Iran’s support for Bashar al-Assad, the upcoming Iranian presidential elections, and the possibility for Tehran-Washington cooperation on Syria and other Middle East issues.
“U.S. Threatens Nuclear Deal it Admits Iran Respects – How Will Tehran Respond?” The Real News Interview, April 25, 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.
“Trump’s strike changed the dynamic and put us on a path toward confrontation. His actions in Syria will herald the following 10 consequences and side effects, which, when taken together, could unleash an imbroglio the likes of which could be worse than what followed the Iraq War.”
“Trump’s Syria Strike Puts America At The Precipice Of Another Middle East War,” Seyed Hossein Mousavian, The Huffington Post, April 13, 2017.
Ambassador Mousavian Quoted:
“For Iran, it is the responsibility of the UNSC to decide about all issues related to international peace and security and therefore the US cannot determine redlines and take actions unilaterally. The US is making the UNSC irrelevant. ”
“As the US become more unpredictable, Iran would be also more unpredictable.”
“L’Iran est encerclé par les Américains,” Caroline Hayek, Le Monde, April 8, 2017.
