Tag: US-Iran

Articles, Publications

Building confidence, implications of the nuclear deal with Iran

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On April 2, 2015, Iran and the P5+1 reached a framework agreement that ensures intrusive transparency and confidence building measures on Iran’s nuclear program in return for a lifting of all nuclear-related sanctions and respecting the legitimate rights of Iran for enrichment, with continued talks until the June 30 deadline toward a comprehensive deal. This initial agreement is a positive step toward ending 12 years of contention over Iran’s nuclear program. The next few weeks will be particularly difficult, as thorny technical issues are negotiated and specific phasing out of sanctions is agreed upon. While the drama over the nuclear talks will continue for the next few weeks until the comprehensive agreement is reached and goes into effect, we have to look at the post-deal environment. This includes the implications for Iran’s nuclear program for the next ten to 25 years; confidence building and nuclear non-proliferation; and Iran’s relations with the West and the region.

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“Building confidence, implications of the nuclear deal with Iran,” Hossein Mousavian, Security Times, June 1, 2015.

Book Review

Book Review: Iran and the United States: An Insider’s View of the Failed Past and the Road to Peace

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There cannot be progress toward a worthwhile cooperative security architecture for the Middle East region unless the Iranian system, in all its multi-faceted complexity, arrives at the conclusion that such outcomes are to Iran’s overall strategic advantage, or at least are compatible with Iranian interests. Building a reasonably predictable basis for engagement between Iran and the United States on regional security issues, including of course in regard to the search for an agreed outcome on the Iranian nuclear program, Iraq and Syria, is among the major challenges facing the regional outlook. Iranian perceptions of the United States and US regional agendas need to be understood in considerable depth.

The publication by Iranian diplomat and negotiator Seyed Hossein Mousavian of an analysis, from an Iranian perspective, of past failures in the management of the US-Iran relationship is therefore noteworthy. As could be expected from a seasoned foreign policy practitioner, Mousavian’s account of the relationship with the United States is far from balanced: in some respects it is at least as much a matter of advocacy or gentle chiding of US approaches as it is of history. It is, nevertheless, a significant insight into the world view of a senior Iranian official with considerable exposure to both western interlocutors and the Iranian leadership.

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“Iran and the United States: An Insider’s View of the Failed Past and the Road to Peace,” Bob Bowker, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, The Australian National University, June 12, 2015.

Articles, Publications

After nuclear deal, what’s next for Iran?

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After more than a decade of roller-coaster talks, mostly marked with failure, both sides have finally arrived at a formula that would assure the international community of the strictly peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities, and terminate all unilateral and multilateral economic and financial nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran.

While the political framework reflects the commitment, hard work, sound judgment and, above all, political will of all the parties involved — Iran as well as and the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany — it has been the direct interaction between Iran and the United States, the main two protagonists, particularly since September 2013, that has helped steer the process of negotiation toward the positive outcome. In a detailed discussion in my book “Iran and the United States: An Insider’s View on the Failed Past and the Road to Peace” — covering more than 30 years of deeply felt and entrenched mutual distrust, hostility, name-calling, tension, tit-for-tat negative policies, measures and actions aimed at harming the other side — I have tried to depict an objective picture of the state of relations, or lack thereof, between the two capitals, including the numerous missed opportunities at rapprochement and ultimate detente between them. This particular aspect of the matter has not escaped the attention and eyes of pundits and keen Iran observers, including William Burns who has been personally involved in the nuclear talks for years.

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“After nuclear deal, what’s next for Iran?” Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, April 14, 2015.

Articles, Publications

On Iran deal, Republicans cut off their nose to spite their face

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The partisan struggle in the political corridors of Washington reached unprecedented heights this week, with Iran becoming the focal point for fierce contention between Republican members of Congress and the Barack Obama administration. The latest display of these sharp internal divisions over the Iran talks has come from a provocative letter by 47 Republican senators to the Iranian government. The letter marks a direct interference by US legislators in the negotiations, with senators such as potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul co-signing the message that purported to emphasize the innate fragile nature of any would-be agreement with Iran. However, in their desperate attempt to dissuade Iran from reaching a deal, the Republicans have harmed US credibility on the international stage more than they know, or perhaps even care to understand.

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“On Iran deal, Republicans cut off their nose to spite their face,” Hossein Mousavian, Al Monitor, March 11, 2015.