Kazakhstan: Astana Registers Diplomatic Boost with Iran Nuclear Talks

by Joanna Lillis When Iranian officials sit down at the negotiating table in Almaty with representatives from six international powers, Kazakhstan will gain kudos that will burnish its international diplomatic image and raise the prestige of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The event may… Continue Reading

Details will make or Break Iran Nuclear Deal

via IPS News After a year of fruitless negotiations that are expected to resume soon, Iranian and U.S. experts are urging both sides to show more flexibility and make more concessions on its nuclear programme. A letter written this month by seven… Continue Reading

New Sanctions on Iran and Neo-Big Stick Diplomacy

by Erich C. Ferrari and Samuel Cutler Contained in the Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2013, and signed into law by President Obama on January 2, are sweeping new sanctions targeting Iran over its disputed nuclear program. The new measures… Continue Reading

Questioning Recent Iran Policy Prescriptions

Any reader of my last piece on this site will be unsurprised that I was disappointed by the Iran chapter of “US Non-Proliferation Strategy for the Middle East” — a policy paper produced by five self-proclaimed “non-partisan specialists”. (Jim Lobe has written about it here.)… Continue Reading

The Problem Posed by Dual-Use Nuclear Technology

Several factors have shaped US policy towards Iran’s nuclear activities. A shifting attitude to the problem posed by dual-use nuclear technologies is one of them. Although this factor has been less apparent than the bitter legacy of Iran’s Islamic Revolution,… Continue Reading