Q&A
Aaron David Miller, Karim Sadjadpour, Robin Wright
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Source: Getty
In The Media
Can Tehran and Washington Seal the Deal?
The Iran deal signed last week is significant. However, major obstacles and serious concerns among regional countries remain.
Published on Apr 3, 2015
Source: KCRW’s To the Point
Speaking on KCRW’s To the Point, Carnegie’s Karim Sadjadpour explained that the Iranian deal announced last week has important implications. Assuming that a deal is signed following the June deadline, and that the deal continues to work for several years, there is still a valid concern that it would be hard to reconstitute sanctions against Iran should Iran return to harmful nuclear activities, he said. He added that there are also concerns that the Iranians may not be working on the same framework laid out by the U.S. Listening to the Iranian interpretation of the nuclear deal signed last week shows some discrepancies that would need to be worked out, he said.
U.S. allies in the Middle East, particularly Israel and the Arab states in the Persian Gulf, are concerned about the nuclear deal, Sadjadpour continued. It is expected that over the coming weeks and months, there will be a “tremendous U.S. outreach” towards those allies to talk about security pacts and calm their fears. The Obama administration is under pressure to prove that the nuclear deal is “not an acquiescence” in the face of Iran’s nuclear program and its troublesome regional activities, Sadjadpour added.
People may have unrealistic implications over what this deal means for Iran’s economy, Sadjadpour continued. Large Western multinational companies are unlikely to do business in Iran soon—instead they will probably take a wait-and-see approach. However, Chinese, Indian, and smaller European companies may “dip their toes in the water.” Iran is an attractive economy to the outside world as it has 75-80 million educated and Westernized consumers. This arguable makes Iran the largest market that is still isolated from globalization, he concluded.
About the Author
Karim Sadjadpour
Senior Fellow, Middle East Program
Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he focuses on Iran and U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East.
- What’s Keeping the Iranian Regime in Power—for Now
- How Washington and Tehran Are Assessing Their Next StepsQ&A
Aaron David Miller, David Petraeus, Karim Sadjadpour
Recent Work
Political ReformForeign PolicyNuclear PolicyNorth AmericaUnited StatesMiddle EastIranIsraelSaudi ArabiaGulf
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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