Leveraging the Iran Nuclear Agreement To Reduce Conflict in the Middle East
How can the Iran Nuclear Agreement lead to a significant reduction of conflict in the Middle East?
The Iran Nuclear Agreement represents an effective use of international diplomacy and institutions to resolve geo-political conflicts without resorting to force – certainly the most important example since 2001. Because the Iran Agreement used tough, principled negotiations to avoid an unnecessary war, it could provide a template for a new kind of progressive foreign policy both in the region and elsewhere.
Will the Iran Nuclear Agreement form the foundation of broader reduction of conflict in the Middle East, especially between Sunnis and Shias and among nations outside the region? Can the Iran Nuclear Agreement lead to new diplomatic initiatives involving Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the UN Security Council’s five permanent members in order to move the situations in Syria, Iraq, and Palestine from impasse to greater stability? Can the U.S. move past the ineffective and counterproductive reliance on the unilateral use of military power, and find common ground with Iran and Saudi Arabia on ISIS and a broader range of security issues?
Read Stephen Kinzer’s analysis of the Iran Deal in Global Post here.