Guest Speakers:
Riccardo Alcaro, Senior Fellow at Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI)
Walter Posch, Senior Research Fellow, European Research Institute for Security Studies in Paris
Chair: Fatemeh Farivar, Deputy Director of Research at Iran-Eurica
This event is held during the 7th round of nuclear talk, between Iran and 4+1 in Vienna, and in concert with consideration of European perspectives from taken from international experts and analysts towards JCPOA.
On December 21st, 2021 international political experts were joined to discuss “The Necessity of Reviving JCPOA; A European Approach”. The keynote speakers included Riccardo Alcaro, Senio Research Coordinator at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), who also authored “Europe and Iran’s Nuclear Crisis” and Walter Posch, Senior Researcher at NDA National Defence Academy, Vienna, who also holds a Ph.D. in Iranian history. This event was moderated by Ms. Fatemeh Farivar, Director of Research at Iran-Eurica, joined by Prof. Heinz Gaertner from International Institute for Peace and other political experts.
Riccardo Alcaro opened his talk by saying that Iran nuclear deal is significant to Europe for the following reasons: 1) Maintenance of the Non-proliferation Regime, 2) “Removing security concerns in the Middle East and current conflicts between Iran and its regional rivals”, and 3) Providing a variety of energy resources for Continental Europe. He also asserted that Europe showed “a lack of inclination after the US unilateral withdrawal from JCPOA as they were not to risk their relations with their strategic partner” and “the European companies found it difficult to resist the US wall of sanctions against Iran”.
Walter Posch spoke about the significant role of the regional countries and anti-JCPOA lobbies. In his view, improved relationship with neighboring countries is a founding factor for reviving JCPOA; he believes it has become of prime importance to Mr. Raisi’s foreign policy. Posch added mitigation of ideological and sectarian tensions is essential for the establishment of peace and stability in the region and mentioned that fight against “extremism” is one of the common concerns of Iran and Europe.
