Interviews

  Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: With the conclusion of the November 24, 2013 interim nuclear accord in Geneva between Iran and the six world powers, the experts, diplomats and political commentators on both sides welcomed the deal as a breakthrough agreement that has brought to an end some 10 years of fruitless talks and opened up new horizons for cooperation between Iran and the international community. It was during these talks that for the first time since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Iranian Foreign Minister and the U.S. Secretary of State sat at the negotiating table and conferred directly. The proponents of détente and rapprochement between Iran and the U.S. that have had marred and blurred relations since...

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: Mário Nobre Lopes Soares is the 17th President of Portugal who served two terms in office from 1986 to 1996. He was also the nation’s Prime Minister from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985. At the time when the former dictator António de Oliveira Salazar was ruling Portugal, Soares diligently fought him and the dictator’s secret police PIDE that arrested him 12 times and expelled him to different countries. Soares is endowed with the highest-ranking military order of Portugal titled “Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit” which was created by King Afonso V in 1459. Mario Soares’s father João Lopes Soares was a minister, anti-fascist republican...

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: Following the election of the moderate politician Hassan Rouhani as the Iranian President in the June 14, 2013 elections, the European countries have become more willing to interact with Iran on equal footings and based on mutual respect. In the recent months and following President Rouhani’s elections, several high-ranking European delegations and dignitaries have traveled to Iran, and it’s expected that more Western officials, including diplomats, politicians and lawmakers will be coming to Iran in the near future. The former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema was one of the dignitaries who traveled to Iran in December last year to hold meetings with senior Iranian officials, academicians...

Kourosh Ziabari: Prominent Iranian academician believes that even if Iran gets access to nuclear weapons, it will not spark an arms race in the Middle East, because the Arab states of the region have long lived with the sole possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East that is a reactionary, expansionistic and occupying regime. “The usual argument presented by the Israeli and US officials, including many times by President Obama himself, that the Arab States fear an arms race in the Middle East if Iran acquires nuclear weapons has never made any sense. The Middle East has lived for many decades with a nuclear armed power in its midst, Israel, a power that is most belligerent, expansionist, and warmongering. Yet, despite this fact,...

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: Former Spanish foreign minister Ana Palacio believes that the controversy surrounding Iran’s nuclear program should be solved through dialog and negotiations, and that a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear standoff would be in everybody’s best interests. Palacio, who was the Spanish foreign minister under Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar from July 2002 to March 2004, said that despite the fact that Spain has been a traditional ally of the United States, her government “never subscribed to the ‘axis of evil’ approach.” “I arranged and conducted a state visit of King Juan Carlos to Syria and of President Khatami to Spain. I strongly believe that exchange, even a critical exchange, is...

Iran Review - Kourosh Ziabari: Someone who has spent nearly three decades of his life in service of the world’s most sophisticated and intricate intelligence agency is perhaps in the best position to comment on some of the most important issues ahead of the U.S. foreign policy. As confirmed by tens of policy advisers and academicians, the United States sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran’s nuclear program as two of its most demanding and exigent foreign policy challenges. It is also facing the problem of legitimacy in the Muslim world as many people in such countries as Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf consider Washington’s foreign policy as aggressive and unproductive. The continued...

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: After Iran reached an interim agreement with the six world powers on November 24, 2013 over its nuclear activities and accepted to put certain limitations on portions of its nuclear program in return for relief from some of the economic sanctions it has been undergoing for almost a decade, the whole world began to embrace the deal with euphoria and enthusiasm. Even the most pessimistic opponents of a possible Iran-U.S. rapprochement and those who believed that Iran cannot sign a deal with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany commented on the interim accord positively and affirmatively. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the interim accord the “beginnings of...

Angela Davis - Radio Voice of Russia: "The US should ease the sanctions because, first of all, these sanctions are harming the daily lives of the ordinary Iranian citizens. And according to many legal experts and many specialists these sanctions are a violation of the fourth Geneva Convention, they are an act war because they harm the ordinary citizens and paralyze their daily lives," Kourosh Ziabari, Iran-based journalist with a long record of covering Iranian issues. Can you tell me, what are your expectations for this current round of talks in Geneva with Iran and the group of six? Shall we really expect any breakthrough results? Of course, since President Rouhani took office earlier this year, he promised to actually take up...

Kourosh Ziabari: Prominent Iranian university professor and author believes that the United States and its European partners should try to win the lost confidence of the Iranian people and government, and treat Iran’s nuclear case equally with all the world nations that are developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Prof. Nader Bagherzadeh also says that with removal of the cruel anti-Iran sanctions following the implementation of the Geneva interim agreement and the final comprehensive deal between Tehran and the six world powers, Iran’s economy will considerably grow and make progress. “If the final agreement is completed and ratified, without sacrificing Iran’s rights as a sovereign nation to pursue all aspects of a...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: According to the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding, all the democratic states need free press and media and it’s a necessity for all the member states of the European Union to improve their press freedom record. “I believe that Europeans enjoy one of the freest and most diverse media environments in the world. But this does not mean we can be complacent. That is why in the past two years the Commission has stood up for freedom of the press and certain media practices in various countries such as Azerbaijan, Hungary, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom. A Europe without the freedom of press is inconceivable,” said Viviane Reding in an...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: The vice-president of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship says that despite the efforts made by different legislative and executive bodies in the European Union to fight xenophobia and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities, there are still instances of such discriminatory behaviors in the continent. “The European Commission has been active, for decades, in putting in place anti-discrimination laws and helping Member States who are the ones responsible for fighting discrimination on the ground... Sadly, despite this legislation, there still are instances of discrimination and xenophobia in Europe. Sometimes it is...

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: The European Union’s high commissioner for humanitarian affairs believes that the responsibility of the humanitarian aid workers is an extremely sensitive, difficult and dangerous mission and in some conflicts, their work is as dangerous as that of a soldier fighting in the battle. “In some conflicts, to be a humanitarian worker is as dangerous as being a soldier and this danger is increasing. In Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, there is a surge in the kidnapping, wounding and killing of humanitarians. Nearly a hundred humanitarian workers have already been killed this year. Kidnapping incidents are also growing in number: Kidnapping is becoming a source of income in some...