Posts tagged : "Iran-U.S. relations"

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: When Emma Bonino visited Iran in December 2013, she was the first European Union foreign minister who would travel to Iran in nearly one decade. Her trip was applauded by those who favored a peaceful settlement of the disputes between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program, and irked those, including the Israeli regime, who find their interests in the continuation of the conflict and animosity between Iran, the United States and the European Union. Following the resignation of the Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, President Giorgio Napolitano named Matteo Renzi as the new Prime Minister in February 2014, and the cabinet was reshuffled. As a result, Emma Bonino is not the foreign minister...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: As Iran and the group of six world powers convene in Vienna for a new round of talks over the Tehran’s nuclear program, it appears more important to study the different aspects of the decade-long controversy that has marred and tarnished Iran’s relations with the international community, especially the United States and the European Union. Signs are emerging that Iran’s blemished relations with the West are being reconstructed, especially after Iran signed a breakthrough deal with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) on November 24, 2013 known as the Joint Plan of Action. Following the election of Hassan Rouhani as the President of Iran in...

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: The Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was one of the several high-ranking European officials, who traveled to Iran following the election of Hassan Rouhani as the Iranian President in June 2013. President Rouhani, considered as moderate politician, has promised to take up a conciliatory approach toward the international community with a strong determination to bring to an end the decade-long controversy surrounding Iran’s nuclear program. President Rouhani’s platform of “prudence and hope” and his foreign policy agenda based on détente and rapprochement with the West was embraced by the United States and the European Union, and so far, seven foreign ministers of the European Union member...

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: In the recent years, the history of Iran’s relations with the Western powers, and especially the United States, has been full of ups and downs, points of confrontation, dispute and also sporadic breakthroughs. Different issues have contributed to the deterioration of bilateral and multilateral relations, and indubitably the controversy surrounding Iran’s nuclear program was the most important issue. The United States and its European allies have been accusing Iran of trying to use its nuclear program as a cover for producing atomic bombs, while Iran has persistently denied the claims, citing the numerous IAEA reports showing that its nuclear activities have never deviated toward weaponization but were...

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: Although there are many hawkish politicians across the world who find a peaceful settlement of the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program a blow to their interests, one can find many influential voices that have always advocated a viable diplomatic engagement with Iran with the aim of bringing to an end the decade-long nuclear controversy in a constructive manner. The former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Dr. Hans Blix is one of these people. As Iran and the six world powers approach the final stages of drafting a final agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program, Blix says that he understands the Iranian people’s desire for mastering the nuclear technology for peaceful...

Kourosh Ziabari - Tehran Times: Only a few weeks after the UN Human Rights Council endorsed a resolution in condemning the alleged violations of human rights in Iran on March 28, the European Parliament also took action to do its share of attacking the Islamic Republic for its “human rights violations” in what was introduced as the “European Parliament resolution on the EU strategy towards Iran.” The two U.S.-allied bodies, in line with their customary and conventional policies of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and sowing the seeds of discord and strife across the globe, expressed serious concern over the “alarming level” of rights violation in Iran and called on the Iranian government to respect...

Kourosh Ziabari: The former Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick says that none of the divine religions permits and discounts the humiliation of the followers and sacraments of other religions and scoffing at what millions of people hold to be sacred and holy is not allowed or commended by any religion. “There has to be respect for what other people believe. It is almost like you slap somebody on face if you attack what they hold to be sacred, and it is really an attack on the respect that other people deserve. If we believe that we are all brothers and sisters in God’s family, then we must love all brothers and sisters and not treat them as fools, and not attack what they hold to be holy and sacred,” said...

Kourosh Ziabari - Your Middle East: The representative of the Jewish minority in Iran’s parliament (Majlis) has recently given an extensive interview to one of Iranian news agencies and discussed his different viewpoints regarding the Israeli regime and the way the Jewish community of Iran see the entity which proclaims to be representing the global Jewry. According to Siamak Mareh Sedq who has talked to the Fars News Agency, Tel Aviv needs to create crisis in the Middle East in order to survive. “If Israel faces no threat it will be destroyed within one month. Israel needs (regional) crises in a bid to continue its existence,” he said. This wise and precise analysis is exactly what the audacious commentators, intellectuals...

  Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: The new openings in the relations between Iran and the international community following the election of moderate President Hassan Rouhani in June 2013 presidential polls are indicative of the fact that the future of Iran’s nuclear standoff is bright and that there are hopes for a comprehensive and final solution that can bring the decade-long controversy to an end. There are difficulties on this path, as Iran and the six world powers (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany) have started intensive and breathtaking negotiations for a comprehensive deal, but both sides have voiced their optimism and hope that the talks will be fruitful. In order to discuss the...

  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 - Press TV: The Geneva interim accord over Iran’s nuclear program signed on November 24 last year was a landmark development in the course of Iran’s relations with other countries, especially the United States, with which it directly negotiated at a high-level for the first time since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. According to the agreement known as the Joint Plan of Action, Iran will voluntarily limit certain portions of its nuclear activities, in return for relief from some of the sanctions imposed against Iran in the recent years, including the petrochemical and automobile industry sanctions. The P5+1 group(Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States) have also agreed to release $4.2...