On 10 February SIPRI hosted a panel discussion at Musikaliska, Stockholm, to consider the state of relations between Iran and the West, following the interim nuclear deal recently agreed in Geneva.
The discussion, entitled ‘What’s next for relations between Iran and the West?’ featured three distinguished experts: Dr Mostafa Zahrani, Director General at the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) in Tehran; Dr Gholam Ali Cheginizadeh, Professor, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Allameh Tabatabai Univerity in Tehran; and Dr Barnett R. Rubin, Director and Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation of New York University.
SIPRI Governing Board Chairman Göran Lennmarker chaired the meeting. The panellists presented their points of view on current relations between Iran and the United States, highlighting the challenges to mutual trust between the nations, and commented on the prospects for future cooperation between them.
They considered options for reducing tensions between Iran and the USA, highlighting the unintended consequences of using sanctions to halt Iran's nuclear programme, and put these relations in the context of relations with other Western actors (chiefly the European Union), as well as with other actors including China and Russia.
The discussion was attended by policymakers, academics and members of the diplomatic community in Stockholm.
Download a recent SIPRI report by Dr Bruce Koepke, Iran's Policy in Afghanistan: The Evolution of Strategic Pragmatism.