Is Time Running out for the JCPOA?

German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L-R) arrive for a family picture after the last plenary session at the United Nations building in Vienna, Austria July 14, 2015. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

March 25, 2021

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Zoom Webinar

WATCH VIDEO OF THE EVENT BELOW

Candidate Joe Biden was fiercely critical of Donald Trump’s breach of the Iran Nuclear Deal and pledged to return to it once elected president. But since taking office, Biden appears not to be in a rush, insisting that Iran must take the first step towards returning to compliance. This demand has created a deadlock as Iran inches towards its presidential election season, rendering diplomacy even more difficult. Can the JCPOA still be resurrected before Iran’s elections? What is motivating Biden’s approach? And will it pay off, or does it risk losing the nuclear deal altogether? What impact will U.S.-Iran diplomacy — or the absence thereof — have on the Iranian elections?

To answer these questions, QI will host a panel discussion featuring Emma Ashford, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council; Vali Nasr, professor of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University; and Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and moderated by Quincy Institute Executive Vice President Trita Parsi. The panel will take place on Thursday, March 25, from 2-3 pm ET.

Panelists

Emma Ashford

Emma Ashford is a resident senior fellow with the New American Engagement Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, which focuses on challenging the prevailing assumptions governing U.S. foreign policy and seeks to develop effective solutions that preserve America’s security and prosperity. Her work focuses on questions of grand strategy, international security, and the future of U.S. foreign policy. She has expertise in the politics of Russia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Vali Nasr

Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. He served as the eighth Dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS between 2012 and 2019 and served as Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke between 2009 and 2011.

Aaron David Miller

Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on U.S. foreign policy. He has written five books, including his most recent, The End of Greatness: Why America Can’t Have (and Doesn’t Want) Another Great President (2014) and The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace (2008). He received his PhD in Middle East and U.S. diplomatic history from the University of Michigan in 1977.

Trita Parsi

Trita Parsi, PhD, is an award-winning author and the 2010 recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. He is an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign politics, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He is the co-founder and former President of the National Iranian American Council. He received his PhD in foreign policy at Johns Hopkins’ School for Advanced International Studies, a Master's Degree in International Relations from Uppsala University, and a Master's Degree in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.