May 10, 2019
There Is Still Time for Diplomacy With Iran
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced this week that Iran would stop complying with certain elements of the 2015 nuclear agreement. The announcement, a year after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the multiparty pact, was not a surprise. And it did not cause an immediate crisis, but rather set off a slow-motion march that could eventually end in war. There is no question that the situation just got much more dangerous—but there is still time and opportunity for diplomacy.
For the past year, the Iranian strategy had been to stay in the nuclear deal, try to isolate the United States politically, avoid a military confrontation, and try to win economic benefits from China, Europe, and Russia. The European parties to the deal have explicitly tried to deliver economic benefits to Iran. Their companies will not deliver on that commitment, however, because it would mean violating U.S. sanctions and risking loss of access to the U.S. banking system.
Read the full article in Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
The Axis of Upheaval
The West has been too quick to dismiss the coordination among China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia....
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Richard Fontaine
-
Proxy battles: Iraq, Iran, and the turmoil in the Middle East
Since Hamas’s attacks sparked the war in Gaza on 7 October 2023, a dangerous cycle of escalation has played out across the Middle East. Iran and its proxies – such as the Hout...
By Hamzeh Hadad
-
What Comes Next for the U.S. in the Middle East
Following a fatal attack on U.S. troops in Jordan, Jonathan Lord analyzes what comes next for the U.S. Watch the full interview with NBC News....
By Jonathan Lord
-
Biden Needs to Deal with China’s Ever-Closer Ties to Iran
Iran and China’s growing relationship is no longer a “what-if,” but a “what-do-we-do-now.”...
By Arona Baigal & Kiana Alirezaie