Posts tagged : "anti-Iran sanctions"

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,...

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: Despite the deal-breaking interventions of the French government in the latest round of talks between Iran and the six world powers to find a solution for Iran’s nuclear standoff, international observers are still hopeful that the talks today can yield significant results, satisfying the both sides and putting an end to the decade-long conflicts and disputes. According to the prominent London-based Iranian university professor and author, Iran’s nuclear program has been used by the United States and its allies to put pressure on Iran and scuttle its political and scientific progress. Prof. Abbas Edalat believes that the United States should abandon its policy of carrot and stick and engage in a constructive dialog...

Kourosh Ziabari: The normalization of relations between Iran and the United States and the recommencement of talks between the two countries to find a diplomatically viable and sustainable resolution to the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program is one of the sensitive issues which the public around the world, leaders, politicians and mass media in different countries are paying a great amount of attention to. Iranians are relatively mistrustful in the United States and its policies, citing the long history of Washington’s interference in their country’s internal affairs and its efforts to destabilize Iran. However, there is some optimism that these differences may be solved if the United States shows goodwill and takes action to...

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: It’s more than a decade that Iran and the West are embroiled in an erosive conflict over the former’s nuclear energy program. The United States and its allies insist that Iran intends to produce atomic weapons and uses the peaceful nuclear program as a cover to further its “ambitions” while Iran strongly rejects the allegations, responding that with its growing energy demands as a country with a young population, it should access nuclear power to provide its future generations with alternative, sustainable energy resources. Throughout the past decade, Iran and the P5+1 have held several rounds of talks with the aim of finding a solution to the nuclear standoff. However, the talks were mostly...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: In less than 3 days, Iran and the six world powers (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) will be sitting at the negotiating table in Geneva to discuss the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program and find ways for getting out of the stalemate that has marred Iran’s relations with the West for more than one decade. Following the victory of Dr. Hassan Rouhani in Iran’s June 14 presidential elections, hopes were revitalized that the nuclear standoff can be resolved as Iran’s new president categorically promised to find a viable, comprehensive and peaceful solution to this erosive confrontation between Iran and the Western powers, including the United...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: Former Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin believes that the crisis in Syria should be solved through talks and diplomatic efforts, not the use of unilateral force by the external players. “All the efforts have to be sought in order to start the peace process in Syria. I think it’s not going to be facilitated by the use of military force from an external source. I think it should be assured that all the solutions for Syria should remain peaceful. A good move was the decision on the chemical weapons. I think that this is the first step that should continue and go on until finding a lasting solution, but again using military or paramilitary means is not going to be a good service to the...

Kourosh Ziabari: Prominent American investigative journalist and political commentator Jeremy R. Hammond says that the sanctions imposed against Iran by the United States and its European allies are illegal and criminal and represent some kind of collective punishment aimed at paralyzing the Iranian government and the livelihood of the Iranian citizens. According to Jeremy R. Hammond, even the US intelligence community has confirmed and verified that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and there has not been any single IAEA report indicating diversion in Iran’s nuclear activities; however, the United States and some EU members are adamantly insisting that Iran has a plan to develop nuclear weapons, while they have no evidence to...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Over the past decade, Iran’s nuclear program has been one of the most controversial and debatable foreign policy issues which the U.S. mass media have widely discussed and continually given coverage to. Thousands of news stories, articles, commentaries and interviews were published by the newspapers and magazines on this matter beside hundreds of hours of radio and television programs aired by the American networks and stations. What is questionable here is that the majority of the media outlets that covered Iran’s nuclear program and the controversy surrounding it followed a set of clichés and stereotypes which kept them away from an objective and realistic approach toward what’s really going on....