Iran Nuclear Negotiations

Entessar & Afrasiabi’s Iran Nuclear Negotiations (Rowman & Littlefied, October 2015) offered a thorough analysis of the negotiation process between Iran and the 5+1 great powers about its nuclear program. This book essentially builds upon it, focusing this time on the final nuclear agreement, the ensuing debates around it, and its global and regional ramifications especially in the Middle East. The first section analyzes the agreement through the prism of international relations theories, using a constructivist-critical theory approach. This is followed by an overview of the intense debates in Iran, the West, and other parts of the world, on the nuclear agreement and its various pros and cons, not to mention the connected, yet separate Iran-IAEA agreement. The second section covers Iran’s foreign policy and its various priorities, looking in particular at the impact of the nuclear deal on the country’s external relations and orientations, contextualized in terms of pre-existing issues and concerns and the profound influence of the nuclear agreement on the perceptions of Iranian power in the region and beyond. Iran’s relations with its Arab, Turkish, Russian, and other neighbors are discussed, focusing on both the direct and indirect impact of the nuclear agreement on these relations, especially the paradoxical implications of the nuclear deal with respect to the non-nuclear crises in the Middle East, such as the Syria-Iraq crisis, and the re-alignments that have put Iran at the crossroads of East and West. Other issues covered include energy security, regional economic cooperation, the endemic sectarianism highlighted by Iran-Saudi competition, and the deadlock on the Middle East peace process. The third section then examines the issue of a Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone and the likely consequences of the Iran nuclear deal on this prospect, which, in turn, raises the issue of regional proliferation and counterproliferation. The last section explores some possible various scenarios and the challenges of implementation as a relatively long-term agreement, providing specific policy recommendations for the regional actors and the external powers that are stakeholders in the volatile Middle East.

The EU’s approach to Iran has emerged as one of the few successes of European foreign policy. Still, its role in international negotiations from 2003, as much as its broader approach to Iran, are generally poorly appreciated by policy-makers in Europe, the United States, and around the world. This book aims to explain the specifics of the EU’s approach to Iran, taking into account both the complexity of European foreign policy, in particular within transatlantic relations, and Iran’s (aspired) place in the international order. It informs the reader about the special negotiation format that included a number of world powers as well as multilateral bodies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the UN Security Council. Furthermore, it provides an outlook on European post-nuclear deal strategies and offers conclusions on the effectiveness of Europe’s multilateral approach to foreign policy. By looking at the EU’s diplomatic activities towards Iran over more than a decade, the book focuses on Europe’s actorness in international politics. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners involved or interested in the European Union, Iran, U.S. foreign policy as well as Foreign and Security policy, including sanctions policy, and more broadly to European Politics, Middle East studies and international relations.

In November 2013, a historic agreement on Iran’s nuclear program was reached between Iran and the world powers, raising the prospects for a long-term agreement that set the stage for normal relations between Iran and the West. This book provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of the agreement and the protracted process that preceded it.

This book examines attempts to influence the outcome of the negotiations between Iran and the United States over Iran’s nuclear capabilities. In particular, it focuses on struggles within the United States around public and congressional opinion with regard to the accord. Trying to prevent a successful outcome to the talks became a cottage industry in Washington, with the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson being just one of those who were pouring millions of dollars into the effort. On the pro-diplomacy side, there were a wide range of religious, peace, and arms control groups with some financial support coming from the Ploughshares Fund trying to create the space for a negotiated agreement. The tactics of both sides of the debate are described and analyzed to show how a contentious foreign policy issue can become not just a decision for high-level government decision makers, but a wide-ranging fight that involves scores of nongovernmental organizations, the media, and thousands of activists.

The story of the Iranian nuclear agreement, as told in the West, is a classic narrative of good versus evil, where a recalcitrant Iran is driven to the negotiating table by crippling economic sanctions imposed by a international coalition led by the United States, and then compelled to surrender its nefarious designs for a nuclear weapon in the face of steely American negotiators. The reality is far different. Deal of the Century tells this story from the perspective of the Iranians, and in doing so takes the reader on a journey into a world seldom seen, and little understood, in the West. Iranian motives behind the nuclear negotiations are explored in depth, and the truth behind Iran's nuclear ambition is revealed, and explained. In the end, Iran concluded a nuclear agreement that saw it give up nothing (its core demand that Iran be permitted to possess an indigenous uranium enrichment capability remained unchanged from 2002 until 2015) while overcoming American-led opposition founded more on fiction than fact. Key Iranian personalities, such as Supreme Leader Khamenei, President Rouhani, Foreign Minister Zarif, and Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larjani, are brought to life in the text in a manner that belies the simplistic cartoon-like characterizations that more often than not appear in the West. Likewise, the author helps put into context the complex, Byzantine-like structures of Iranian theocratic governance in a manner that brings clarity to a system little understood in the West. The reader is exposed to the curious blend of religious zealotry and strict adherence to constitutional law that defines Iran's ruling system, especially as it is intertwined with the harsh realities of domestic Iranian politics and regional hostility from Israel and Iran's Gulf Arab neighbors, all of which influenced the pace and substance of Iran's nuclear negotiating position far more than any outside pressure brought to bear by the West. The author makes extensive use of Iranian sources and interviews to tell a story rich in detail, possessing both current and historical context, and which brings to life the other side of the story of the nuclear agreement, largely unknown in the West. Deal of the Century presents a counter-narrative where Iran actually does the world a service by charting a course out of the treacherous shoals of Western-induced fear and mistrust, and leading the negotiations onto a path that provides a meaningful chance for peace.

Distinguished diplomat Ambassador Wendy Sherman brings readers inside the negotiating room to show how to put diplomatic values like courage, power, and persistence to work in their own lives. Few people have sat across from the Iranians and the North Koreans at the negotiating table. Wendy Sherman has done both. During her time as the lead US negotiator of the historic Iran nuclear deal and throughout her distinguished career, Wendy Sherman has amassed tremendous expertise in the most pressing foreign policy issues of our time. Throughout her life -- from growing up in civil-rights-era Baltimore, to stints as a social worker, campaign manager, and business owner, to advising multiple presidents -- she has relied on values that have shaped her approach to work and leadership: authenticity, effective use of power and persistence, acceptance of change, and commitment to the team. Not for the Faint of Heart takes readers inside the world of international diplomacy and into the mind of one of our most effective negotiators -- often the only woman in the room. She shows why good work in her field is so hard to do, and how we can learn to apply core skills of diplomacy to the challenges in our own lives.

Drawing on the author’s personal experience, this book presents an insider’s chronology and policy analysis of the EU’s role in the nuclear negotiations with Iran. The European Union strives to be a global player, a “soft power” leader that can influence international politics and state behavior. Yet critics argue that the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) remains largely ineffective and incoherent. The EU’s early and continuous involvement in the effort to dissuade Iran from developing nuclear weapons can be viewed as a test case for the EU as a global actor. As Chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Iran, Tarja Cronberg had a ringside seat in the negotiations to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Drawing on her experiences leading a parliamentary delegation to Iran and interviews with officials, legislators and opposition leaders in nearly every country participating in the negotiations, as well as reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency, parliaments and independent experts, the author illustrates an insider’s strategic understanding of the negotiations. Intersecting history, politics, economics, culture and the broader security context, this book not only delivers a unique analysis of this historic deal and the twelve-year multilateral pursuit of it, but draws from it pertinent lessons for European policy makers for the future. This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, EU policy, diplomacy and international relations in general.