The U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran in 1979 following the Islamic revolution and the taking of U.S. hostages. Iranian imports to the U.S. were banned, and more than $12 billion in Iranian assets held in U.S. accounts were frozen. These sanctions were broadened in 1984...
Iran
The UN, the EU, the U.S.: The Triumph of ‘Team Work’
Clara Portela is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Singapore Management University and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe. When the Iran nuclear deal was signed, it was celebrated as a diplomatic success, especially for the United States. Media...
Trump Should Support, Not Disrupt, the Iran Deal
Kelsey Davenport is Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association. Donald Trump faces a tough array of foreign policy challenges, but noticeably absent from that list is the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. If Trump plays his cards right, he can...
The Leverage Embedded in the Iran Deal
George Lopez is the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Since the election of Donald Trump, members of the arms control community have argued that the new administration must...
If You Think War with Iran Is the Answer, Think Again
Mary Ellen O'Connell Mary Ellen O’Connell is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and Research Professor of International Dispute Resolution at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Opponents of the Iran nuclear deal...
The Iran Deal: Not Perfect, but the Best Possible
Michael C. Desch Michael C. Desch is Professor of Political Science and Co-director of the Notre Dame International Security Program. Winston Churchill famously said of democracy that it was the worst form of government except for all the others. The same could be...
Success through Sanctions
David Cortright David Cortright is Director of Policy Studies for the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The Iran nuclear deal resulted in part from the effective use of multilateral sanctions to apply persuasive pressure...
Preventing War with Iran: Have Prospects Improved?
Ellen Laipson The election of President Hassan Rouhani has augured in a wave of hopefulness that conflict between Iran and the U.S. could be avoided. But the escalating crisis in Syria has cast a shadow over prospects for improvement. The August 21 use of chemical...
Prospects for Diplomacy to Resolve the Iranian Nuclear Dilemma
Seyed Hossein Mousavian With the victory of a moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, in Iran, there is renewed hope for a diplomatic breakthrough in the stalemate over Iran’s nuclear program. There also are encouraging signs at the White House. President Obama in his...
Suspending Sanctions: A Strategy for Reaching a Nuclear Agreement with Iran
George A. Lopez and David Cortright In light of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s inauguration and his declared intention to enhance transparency and improve relations with the international community, a new and significant opportunity exists to end the nuclear...
Political Islam: Does the U.S. Want to Engage Effectively?
Emad El-Din Shahin Three issues are vital to U.S. security in the Middle East and will define America’s future relations with the Muslim world: the peace process (in Palestine, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan); the United States’ continued support for corrupt and...
Stalemate: A Short History of Sanctions against Iran
Linda Gerber-Stellingwerf Since the 1979 Islamic revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis, the United States has imposed sanctions against Iran on a continuous basis. The initial measures were moderately influential in resolving the hostage crisis, when combined...
Sanctioned into Submission? Options for Change in Iran
George A. Lopez This post includes video content. (4:35) The nuclear standoff between Iran and the western powers has intensified to the point where the only question being asked in Washington is how “crippling” — to use Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s preferred...
Reform & Resistance in Iran
An interview with Peter Wallensteen Peter Wallensteen, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden and the Kroc Institute at Notre Dame, is an expert on economic sanctions and regime change. We asked him about the reform movement in Iran and how it would be affected...