Guest Speaker: Hannes Swoboda
Speakers: Saeed Anvari, Mostafa Kamrani
Chair: Fatemeh Farivar
This online meeting discussed the necessity of Europe-Iran cooperation on key security interests and concerns.
On May 10th, 2022 an expert roundtable was held on “Europe and Iran’s Security Cooperation; Challenges and Opportunities” joined by Dr. Hannes Swoboda, President of the International Institute for Peace (IIP) in Vienna and a member of the European Council for Foreign Affairs. He was formerly a member of the European Parliament for S&D Group and an Austrian Social Democratic Party member.
The war in Ukraine has entered a new phase where it is not merely focused on taking land and is, in fact, the scene of global competition among great powers. Unlike the early speculations about the success of Russia and the weakness of Europe in supporting Kyiv, the course of the war has so far shown a renewed will to strengthen the transatlantic alliance and an increase in the EU’s ability to strategically respond to crises and quickly adopt collective decision-making mechanisms.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has also revitalized the nuclear deterrence discourse in Europe and has made Europe more dependent on the United States in this respect, in addition to the need to compensate for the deficit in the global energy market. Although the Middle East provides a great opportunity for filling this gap, the restrictions due to the sanctions imposed on Iran and the differences between the US and some regional Arab leaders impede the further supply of energy resources from the region, and so, the cooperation is still limited to talks over gas imports from Qatar. This has led Europeans to become more resolute in looking for replacements for Russian oil and gas in parallel to developing energy-saving policies; an approach that would not only reinforce Europe’s energy infrastructure based on renewable energy but also help the Middle East combat the consequences of climate change.
Since the sanctions on Russia are not one-sided, Europe will suffer from the economic implications of this war as well. Food security is another issue that has impacted the global supply chains. That is why cooperation on key security concerns and interests is necessary between Europe and the Middle East. Apart from food and energy security, other areas of cooperation are combatting terrorism, managing refugee and migration crisis, and establishing peace and stability in the region. On this matter, Iran can play a pivotal role esp. through further cooperation with its Arab neighbors and influence in countries like Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria. Europe can, on the other hand, support the establishment of regional arms control and disarmament regimes, particularly given the growing importance of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV) in regional and international conflicts.
This event is part of Iran-Eurica’s ongoing work on Iran-Europe cooperation.
