USA-Iran Wrestling Diplomacy

New Publication by Bahman Baktiari

Rouhani’s Nuclear Gridlock: Assessing the

Domestic Challenges to President Hassan

Rouhani’s Nuclear Deal with the West.

Bahman Baktiari

Executive Director

International Foundation for Civil Society

U.S. Senate votes overwhelming in support of the Iran legislation

After extensive infighting in the U.S. Senate in which a small group of hardliners attempted to derail the Iran legislation, the Senate voted 98-1 in favor of the bipartisan bill that gives the U.S. Congress a chance to express its view on the final nuclear accord between Iran and the United States. “The lone vote against the bill was cast by Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas.” It is useful to remember that a month ago 46 Republican senators signed a letter coordinated by Tom Cotton that attempted to derail the nuclear negotiations with Iran. Today, Tom Cotton was alone in his vote.

Unmaking of an Adversarial Relationship: How Can Iran and the United States Normalize Their Relationship After 36 Years of Mutual Satanization?

Huffington Post  May 4, 2015

Bahman Baktiari

Executive Director

International Foundation for Civil Society

Two years after his election, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran is about to go down in history as a leader who defused an intense and bitter conflict that could have led to a military attack on Iran. A nuclear deal that the majority of Iranians hope will bring an end to the isolation of Iran, much needed relief from international sanctions, and a new chapter in U.S.-Iran relations is now in sight. If other enemy countries have faced each other on the battlefield and ultimately managed to work out their differences, why is it impossible for Iran and the United States to do the latter?

Read Full Article Here.

Iranian Civil Society Supports Nuclear Deal with P5+1

Since his election, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has maintained an optimistic posture on possibilities of a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran—or as he calls it, a win-win deal for all. “I think a final settlement can be achieved … the world is tired and wants it to end, resolved through negotiations.”  A large group of Iranian civil society activists have added their voice to diplomacy for support for the nuclear deal.  A majority of Iranians support  nuclear negotiations. Similarly, in a July 2014 public opinion poll conducted by the Program for Public Consultation and the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, 61% of Americans favored a nuclear deal with Iran.

In 2005, urged by US, Europe rejected iran offer of 500 centrifuges. Today they’re negotiating Iran having 3600

 In this article, Gary Sick argues that a bad deal with Iran is better than not having a deal at all.  So many opportunities missed, and others blocked by unwise policies and agendas.”From 2003 to 2005, when the reformist Mohammad Khatami was president, Rohani had headed Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, while Zarif had served as ambassador to the United Nations. During that time, the pair made a similar offer to negotiate limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for normalization of relations, but were rebuffed by European negotiators—actively encouraged by the Bush administration—on the grounds that they could not tolerate Iran keeping a single centrifuge enriching uranium. Tehran’s offer, at that time, proposed maintaining 500 centrifuges for R&D purposes with an option to increase the number to 3,000 over time. At the time, Iran had only a few operating centrifuges, which they refused to dismantle.”

Iranians React To Republican Victory in U.S. Elections

The latest mid-term elections in the United States has led to a Republican majorities in both the Senate and the House.   Although this change of power in U.S. Senate could lead to Republicans demanding a a more hawkish foreign policy,  particularly with respect to Iran,   the current  nuclear  negotiations between Iran and the United States and the Europeans has gone too far to be reversed now.   Of course, with a Nov. 24th deadline looming on the nuclear talks between Iran and P5+1, the negotiators enter the last month of negotiations with an urgency to complete a deal before this deadline.  Both President Obama and President Rouhani have bet a huge amount on the success of a nuclear deal with Iran, and long-term engagement that will lead to normalization of relations between Iran and the United States. They have invested a lot to risk a failure, and the stakes could not have been higher for the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.  The urgency of reaching a nuclear deal with Iran,   and the conflict with ISIS were the focus of another secret letter from President Obama to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his fourth letter to Khamenei since 2008.