Posts tagged : "U.S. foreign policy"

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran deal, is a multilateral agreement between Iran and the six world powers that was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council. The accord, which was agreed in 2015, caps Iran’s nuclear activities in return for the removal of economic sanctions. It also reconnects Iran to the world’s financial and banking system. Trump’s de-certification of the deal was not unexpected. It was one of his campaign promises in 2016. He has pejoratively called the accord “Obama’s deal,” referring to his predecessor, Barack Obama, and has criticized...

Kourosh Ziabari - Centre For Journalism: The U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to separate the United States from Mexico with a wall on the country's southern border was one of the controversial pledges he made during the campaign season in the run-up to the November 2016 presidential polls. President Trump had repeatedly denigrated the Mexican immigrants and vowed to block immigration from Mexico through this initiative. His wall project is now in the offing and Trump says they are the Mexicans who will pay for its construction. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said the country will never pay for it. The executive order 13767 signed by the U.S. president on 25 January 2017 lays the groundwork for the commencement of the...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: Arts and culture can bridge the gaps between nations in times of division or when political tensions arise and daily life is difficult. When leaders exchange verbally aggressive words or believe that their national security interests are threatened, it is the authors, artists, entrepreneurs, academicians and even students who bear the burden of eradicating enmity and eliminating hostilities between countries. Keyvan Shovir is a young Iranian visual and street artist who combines Iranian traditional culture with contemporary pop culture in his art to showcase the beauty of Iran to those who are unfamiliar with its people and culture. Shovir is credited with being a pioneer in Iranian...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: On 27 January 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump issued the executive order 13769, blocking the entry of the nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries into the United States on security grounds. The executive order, popularly referred to as the Muslim ban was challenged by several courts. Many lawyers, legal experts and Congressmen voiced their protest against it. However, the third version of the ban signed by President Trump on 24th September 2017 still prevents the citizens of the seven countries from traveling to America unless in exceptional circumstances. Its immediate effect was that 700 travellers were detained and up to 60,000 visas were provisionally revoked. Findings by Haas Institute reveal...

U.S., EU and Iranian diplomats celebrate the signing of the Iran Deal Kourosh Ziabari - openDemocracy: The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran Deal, is a UN-endorsed agreement that caps Iran's nuclear activities, subjects them to the full safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and introduces a framework for the easing and removal of economic sanctions against the country. Iran deal is an agreement that can be safely considered the outcome of almost two years of relentless diplomacy between the government of President Hassan Rouhani and the major world powers: five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (U.S., Russia, France, China and Britain), Germany, the European Union...

Kourosh Ziabari - Your Middle East: The contemporary history of Iran-U.S. relations is replete with misunderstandings and mutual skepticism. Up to 1979, Tehran and Washington were staunch allies. President Jimmy Carter had famously referred to Iran as an “island of stability” in the Middle East, and the financial, military and political backing of the United States had emboldened Iran to boast of being a regional gendarme. Besides, frequent trips by the Iranian king and government officials to the States and official visits to Iran by consecutive U.S. Presidents since 1943, when Franklin D. Roosevelt first traveled to Tehran to confer with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill at the Tehran Conference, underlined the importance of...

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: The Iran nuclear deal, popularly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, has been widely lauded as a historic understanding that untangled an apparently intractable dilemma spanning over more than a decade, and opened broad new prospects for Iran and the international community to collaborate with no specter of distrust and confrontation around the corner. The global media and Iran pundits are diligently probing the different dimensions of the landmark deal and how it affects Iran’s connections with the outside world. At the same time, the JCPOA signed last summer constitutes an invariable theme in the U.S. presidential candidates’ debates and speeches these days. The Republican nominee...

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: While much attention is being paid to the sweeping victories gained by the real estate tycoon Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, there are many observers of the U.S. foreign policy who share a common concern over the fate of the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, under President Barack Obama’s successor. An investigative journalist and reporter says the nuclear deal is not a bilateral agreement involving Iran and the United States, and five other nations, including some of the closest U.S. allies in NATO contributed to securing it, so a possible violation of the terms of the deal by the next American President would “pose a major...

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: Two years of successful negotiations between Iran and the United States to achieve a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear challenge and the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action announced on January 16 verified the assumption that cooperation on the basis of mutual respect makes a reality out of what may obstinately appear impossible. Now, what has come under spotlight is the possibility for Tehran and Washington to emulate the success story of the nuclear talks and work together in other areas of shared interests, including the fight against ISIS, the security of Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. A distinguished American diplomat says despite the difficulties ahead, Iran and the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The whole episode began in 2013 when a moderate, pragmatic cleric, popularly known as the “Diplomat Sheikh,” replaced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the president of Iran. Hassan Rouhani, who spearheaded Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the big three in Europe under President Mohammad Khatami, won the hearts and souls of Iranians thanks to his promise of “constructive engagement” with the international community. President Rouhani was intent on ending more than a decade of political and economic isolation, originating from the international community’s goal of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons—a charge that Iranian officials had denied over and over again. The determination to...

Kourosh Ziabari - Your Middle East: The bloody Paris attacks and the heartrending San Bernardino shooting spree – which were ultimately blamed on “Islamist terrorists” – have panicked the United States, and anti-Muslim sentiments are now on a seismic, mind-boggling surge across the country. Severed pig heads and burnt pages of the Holy Quran are thrown at the doorsteps of mosques in Philadelphia, Austin and elsewhere; Islamic centers are on the receiving end of threatening phone calls while their walls are being spray-painted with racist mottos by the xenophobic vandals; and profiling of Muslims at U.S. airports and removing of Muslims passengers from flights have resurfaced again. Even the Sikhs have been assaulted on the...

Kourosh Ziabari - Middle East Eye: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani already faces a challenging task appeasing his political rivals who are apparently wounded by the conclusion of the long-sought nuclear deal with the six world powers - the five UN Security Council permanent members and Germany. It is an accord that the Iranian people are overwhelming supportive of, as it ends the suffering they have endured for decades as they bore the brunt of the West’s economic sanctions. Hardliners, however, still cannot conceal their anger at it, simply because the deal was signed by somebody other than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but also because it was signed with their favorite bogeyman, the United States. President Rouhani needs to...