An Open Letter to Federica Mogherini and the European Imperative to Save the Iran Nuclear Deal
14.05.2018
Ms. Federica Mogherini
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy European Commission
Berlaymont
1049 Brussels
We, the undersigned, thank you for your speech on 8th May 2018, pledging the European Union’s intention to remain steadfast in its commitment to the historic accord concluded between Iran and the E3/EU+3, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Too often, politicians have inclined to patronise and admonish, but, instead, you opted for a “universal language” of respect and dialogue. You proclaimed that “[t]his deal belongs to each and every one of us”, and that it enjoins us not to “let anyone dismantle this agreement”. But despite such salutary remarks, in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s public announcement to withdraw from the JCPOA and re-impose sanctions on Iran, the survival of the agreement is far from assured.
The majority of Iranians have demonstrated their heartfelt support for this hard-won diplomatic accord. They have shown their support through their two-time election of a president promising to initiate constructive dialogue with the world, patiently awaiting the outcome of a long and arduous series of negotiations despite the debilitating impact of sanctions on their everyday lives, celebrating in the streets of major Iranian cities when the JCPOA was successfully agreed upon, and finally, announcing their approbation of the agreement in over 100 cities across the globe in the weeks and months that followed.
In your speech you stated that “the European Union will remain committed to the continued full and effective implementation of the Nuclear Deal”. We wholeheartedly welcome this commitment, but as you are fully apprised, it is crucial that Europe is able to discharge its international obligations and ensure, despite U.S. sanctions, that Iran and its people enjoy the full economic and political dividends promised according to not only the letter, but also the spirit of the JCPOA. The IAEA has repeatedly verified Iran’s compliance and honouring of its commitments under the agreement, and this ought to be reciprocated in turn.
In an increasingly unstable global climate and ever-more precarious “age of extremes”, it is essential that one of the great diplomatic successes of the 21st century not find itself carelessly squandered. By your own estimation it took some twelve years for this agreement to be reached. If Europe in coordination with its Russian and Chinese partners prove unable to salvage the JCPOA, the likelihood of further instability in the region and even war increases exponentially.
While the JCPOA showed that diplomacy is possible, in view of recent events and President Trump’s reneging on the accord, the message to the world shouldn’t be that peace is inevitably transient and short-lived. For every one of us who is committed to fostering peace through reasonable dialogue and mutual understanding, preserving the integrity and viability of the JCPOA is of inestimable importance. Trust in the European Union, UN Security Council and wider international community is at stake, as well as their credibility to tackle many of the enormous challenges which lie ahead in the years to come.
The Iranian people backed peace and diplomacy. Now it is the responsibility of the international community to demonstrate that they made the right decision and that the promises that were made will be carried out and effectively realised. Failure is not an option. The alternative path is simply too costly, not only for the present generation, but for posterity as well.
Name | Position | Affiliation |
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Judith Butler | Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature | UC Berkeley |
Noam Chomsky | Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics Emeritus | MIT |
Cornel West | Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy | Harvard University |
David Harvey | Distinguished Professor | The Graduate Centre, CUNY |
Charles Taylor | Professor Emeritus in Philosophy | McGill University |
Peter Singer | Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values | Princeton University |
Slavoj Žižek | International Director, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities | Birkbeck, University of London |
Fredric Jameson | Knut Schmidt Nielsen Professor of Comparative Literature | Duke University |
Donna J Haraway | Distinguished Professor Emerita | UC, Santa Cruz |
Richard Falk | Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus | Princeton University |
Wendy Brown | Class of 1936 First Professor in Political Science | University of California Berkeley |
Nancy Fraser | Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor | New School for Social Research |
Talal Asad | Distinguished Professor in Anthropology | The Graduate Centre, CUNY |
Ervand Abrahamian | Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Iranian and Middle Eastern History and Politics | Baruch College, CUNY |
Joan Wallach Scott | Professor Emerita, School of Social Science | Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton NJ |
Hamid Dabashi | Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature | Columbia University |
Taraneh Alidoosti | Iranian actress | |
Jacqueline Rose | Professor of Humanities and Co-director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities | Birbeck, University of London |
John Mearsheimer | R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science | University of Chicago |
Ilan Pappé | Professor of History, Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies | University of Exeter |
Mahmood Mamdani | Herbert Lehman Professor of Government MESAAS, International Affairs, and Anthropology | Columbia University |
Juan Cole | Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History | University of Michigan |
Abdolkarim Soroush | Iranian intellectual and theologian | |
Ali Mirsepassi | Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies / Director of Iranian Studies Initiative | NYU |
Asef Bayat | Bastian Professor of Global and Transnational Studies | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
Mohsen Kadivar | Research Professor in the Department of Religious Studies | Duke University |
Cumrun Vafa | Donner Professor of Science | Harvard University |
Avi Shlaim | Emeritus Professor of International Relations | St Antony’s College, Oxford |
Touraj Atabaki | Senior Researcher, International Institute of Social History and Professor Emeritus and Chair of the Social History of the Middle East and Central Asia | Leiden University |
Omid Safi | Professor of Asia and Middle Eastern Studies | Duke University |
Gerald Horne | Moores Professor of History | University of Houston |
Farid Esack | Professor in the Department of Religion | University of Johannesburg |
Shlomo Sand | Professor Emeritus | Tel Aviv University |
Norman Finkelstein | Independent Scholar of Israel/Palestine | |
Joel Beinin | Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History | Stanford University |
Abdolreza Kahani | Iranian film director | |
Arshin Adib-Moghaddam | Professor in Global Thought and Comparative Philosophies | SOAS, University of London |
Homa Katouzian | Iran Heritage Foundation Research Fellow | St Antony’s College, Oxford |
Karma Nabulsi | Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations | St Edmund Hall, Oxford |
Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi | Professor of History & Sociology | University of Illinois |
Owen M. Fiss | Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law | Yale Law School |
David Priestland | Professor of Modern History | University of Oxford |
Shirin Neshat | Visual Artist | New York, USA |
Mehrzad Boroujerdi | Professor of Political Science | Syracuse University |
Nader Hashemi | Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and an Assistant Professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics | University of Denver |
Trita Parsi | President | National Iranian American Council |
Lord John Alderdice | Director of the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict | Harris Manchester College, Oxford |
Farhad Khosrokhavar | Professor of Sociology | Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France |
Stathis Kalyvas | Gladstone Professor of Government | All Souls College, Oxford |
Ebrahim Moosa | Professor of Islamic Studies | University of Nortre Dame |
Timothy Mitchell | William B Ransford Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies | Columbia University |
Richard Bulliet | Professor Emeritus in Middle Eastern History | Columbia University |
Vijay Prashad | Public intellectual and author | Tricontinental |
Jairus Banaji | Professorial Research Associate | SOAS, University of London |
Aziz Rana | Professor of Law | Cornell University Law School |
Paul R. Pillar | Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Center for Security Studies | Georgetown University |
Abdel Razzaq Takriti | Associate Professor & Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History | University of Houston |
Kiumars Pourahmad | Iranian film director | |
Ali Akbar Mahdi | Lecturer in Sociology | California State University, Northridge |
Mohammad Jamal Samavati | Iranian Musician and Ethnomusicologist | Sheyda Ensemble |
Mahmoud Sadri | Professor in Sociology | Texas Woman’s University |
Niki Akhavan | Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communication Studies | Catholic University of America |
Robert Buzzanco | Professor of History | University of Houston |
Toby C. Jones | Professor and Director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies | Rutgers University |
Fatima Tofighi | Assistant Professor & EUME fellow | University of Religions, Qom and Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin |
Walter Armbrust | Albert Hourani Fellow & Associate Professor in Modern Middle Eastern Studies | St Antony's College, Oxford |
Mani Haghighi | Filmmaker and Actor | |
Cemil Aydin | Professor in the Department of History | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill |
Ziba Mir-Hosseini | Professorial Research Associate, Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law | SOAS University of London |
Richard Tapper | Professor of Anthropology | SOAS, University of London |
Sajjad Rizvi | Associate Professor of Islamic Intellectual History and Islamic Studies | University of Exeter |
Nayereh Tohidi | Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Director of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies | California State University, Northridge |
Hossein Khosrojerdi | Artist and Designer | London |
Zuzanna Olszewska | Associate Professor in the Social Anthropology of the Middle East | University of Oxford |
Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi | British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Oriental Studies | St Cross College, Oxford |
Parviz Tanavoli | Artist and Scholar | |
Sheila Carapico | Professor, Political Science and International Studies | University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia |
Bashir Saade | Lecturer in Religion and Politics | University of Stirling |
Bijan Khajehpour | Atieh International, Vienna | |
Carool Kersten | Reader in the Study of Islam & the Muslim World | King's College London |
Christopher de Bellaigue | Historian and former Iran correspondent for The Economist | |
Ashk Peter Dahlén | Associate Professor in Iranian Languages | Uppsala University, Sweden |
Farrokh Negahdar | Political Analyst and Activist | |
Masoud Behnoud | Journalist and Author | |
Rudi Matthee | John and Dorothy Munroe Distinguished Professor of History | University of Delaware |
Hadi Jorati | Expert Consultant | Library of Congress |
Kevan Harris | Assistant Professor in Sociology | UCLA |
Adnan Tabatabai | Co-founder and CEO of CARPO - Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient | Bonn, Germany |
Mahmud Farjami | Independent scholar, author and stand-up comedian | |
Arash Eshghi | Lecturer in Computer Science | Heriot-Watt University |
Kaveh Ehsani | Assistant Professor of International Studies | DePaul University, Chicago |
Fatemeh Shams | Assistant Professor of Modern Persian Literature | University of Pennsylvania |
Daryoush Ashouri | Public intellectual and author | |
Norma Claire Moruzzi | Associate Professor in Political Science & Gender Studies | University of Illinois, Chicago |
Sussan Siavoshi | Cox Professorship in Political Science | Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas |
Roham Alvandi | Associate Professor of International History | London School of Economics and Political Science |
Mamak Khadem | Musician/ Mathematics Instructor | California, USA |
Mohammad Ali Ardebili | Professor of Criminal Law | Shahid Beheshti Law School, Tehran |
Nahid Siamdoust | Postdoctoral Associate & Lecturer in Iranian Studies | Yale University |
Mania Akbari | Film maker and Artist | London |
Mohammad Azadpur | Professor of Philosophy | San Francisco State University |
Manoutchehr Eskandari-Qajar | Professor, Department of Political Science, Director, Middle East Studies Program | Santa Barbara City College, CA |
Hossein Kamaly | Middle East Institute, Columbia University | |
Khodadad Rezakhani | Associate Research Scholar | Princeton University |
Maziar Behrooz | Associate Professor in History | San Francisco State University |
Dörthe Engelcke | Senior Research Fellow | Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law |
Fereshteh Ahmadi | Professor in Sociology | University of Gävle, Sweden |
Hani Khafipour | Associate Professor of Iranian Studies | USC |
Giuseppe Acconcia | Department of Politics and International Relations | University of Padova |
Danny Postel | Assistant Director, Middle East and North African Studies Program | Northwestern University |
Arzoo Osanloo | Associate Professor, Department of Law, Societies, and Justice | University of Washington |
Barbara Slavin | Director of the Future of Iran Initiative | The Atlantic Council |
Azam Ali | Singer/Composer | California, USA |
Arang Keshavarzian | Associate Professor Middle Eastern Studies | NYU |
Adam Sabra | Professor and King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud Chair in Islamic Studies | University of California |
Farhad Dokhani | PhD Candidate in History and Middle East Studies | Harvard University |
Mazen Masri | Senior Lecturer in Law | City, University of London |
Rouzbeh Parsi | Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Human Rights | Lund University |
Paola Rivetti | Assistant Professor, School of Law and Government | Dublin City University |
Morteza Hashemi | Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Social Anthropology | University of Edinburgh |
Rasmus Christian Elling | Associate Professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural & Regional Studies | University of Copenhagen |
Sophia Mihic | Professor in Philosophy and Political Science | Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL |
Nadeem Rezavi | Professor of History | AMU, India |
Edward R. Shapiro | M.D. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry | Yale Child Study Center |
Lucie Ryzova | Senior Lecturer in Middle East History | University of Birmingham |
Alireza Doostdar | Assistant Professor, Divinity School | University of Chicago |
Babak Rahimi | Associate Professor of Communication, Culture and Religion | UC San Diego |
Farhang Rouhani | Associate Professor in Geography | University of Mary Washington |
Hassan Hakimian | MBI Al Jaber Reader in Economics and Director of London Middle East Institute | SOAS, University of London |
Marta Bolognani | Research Affiliate, Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship | University of Bristol |
Leyli Behbahani | Research Associate at the Center for Gender Studies | SOAS, University of London |
Andrew F. March | Berggruen Fellow, Edmond J Safra Center for Ethics | Harvard University |
Gennaro Gervasio | Senior Lecturer in History and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa | Roma Tre University, Italy. |
Simindokht Dehghani | Gallerist and translator | |
Ahmad Sadri | Professor of Sociology | Lake Forest College, USA |
Afshin Shahi | Senior Lecturer in International Relations & Middle East Politics | University of Bradford |
Otávio Luiz Vieira Pinto | Assistant Lecturer | Universidade Estadual de Santa Catarina (UDESC) |
Alan Godlas | Associate Professor in the Department of Religion | University of Georgia |
Alessandro Cancian | Research Associate | The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London |
Pooyan Tamimi Arab | Assistant Professor, Religious Studies | Utrecht University |
Saeed Paivandi | Professor of Sociology | University of Lorraine, Nancy, France |
Simon Wolfgang Fuchs | Lecturer in Middle East and Islamic Studies | Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany |
Robert J. Riggs | Professor of World Religions | University of Bridgeport |
Annabelle Sreberny | Emeritus Professor | SOAS, University of London |
Milad Jokar | Visiting Lecturer, Middle East Geopolitics and Diplomacy | Normandy Business School, France |
Moisés Garduño García | Professor in International Relations | National Autonomous University of Mexico |
Sahar Maranlou | Lecturer in Law, School of Law and Human Rights Centre | University of Essex |
Siavush Randjbar-Daemi | Lecturer in Modern Middle Eastern History | University of St Andrews |
Mohsen Sajadi | a Group leader in the Fritz Haber Institute | Max Planck Society in Berlin |
Ali Fathollah-Nejad | Affiliated Researcher, Center for Middle East Politics | Freie Universität Berlin |
Navid Yousefian | Founder and Executive Director, See You in Iran & Doctoral Candidate in Political Science | UC, Santa Barbara |
Shervin Malekzadeh | Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science | Williams College |
Navid Ghaffarzadegan | Assistant Professor | Virginia Tech, USA |
Aaron Hughes | Philip S. Bernstein Professor of Jewish Studies | University of Rochester |
Hussein A H Omar | Junior Research Fellow in History | Pembroke College, Oxford |
Deniz Ülke Arıboğan | Professor of International Relations | Istanbul Bilgi University |
Maureen Sioh | Associate Professor, Department of Geography | DePaul University |
Mohammad Salemy | Artist, Curator | The New Centre for Research & Practice |
Sima Shakhsari | Assistant Professor in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies | University of Minnesota |
Mohammad Ghanoonparvar | Professor Emeritus of Persian and Comparative Literature | The University of Texas at Austin |
Iradj Sobhani | Head of Gastroentology Department | Unviresity Paris-Est CRETEIL |
James McDougall | Associate Professor of Modern History | University of Oxford |
Tomoko Yamagishi | Professor in Cultural Theories and Iranian Studies | Meiji University, Tokyo |
Ali Banuazizi | Professor of Political Science | Boston College |
Farideh Farhi | Affiliate Graduate, Faculty of Political Science | University of Hawai’i at Manoa |
Lior Sternfeld | Assistant Professor in Iranian Studies | Ben Gurion University of the Negev |
Hamid Zangeneh | Professor of Economics | Widener University |
Nadia Marzouki | chargée de recherche | CNRS, Paris, France |
Daryoush Mohammad Poor | Senior Research Associate | Institute of Ismaili Studies |
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd | Professor in Political Science | Northwestern University |
Yaser Mirdamadi | PhD candidate in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies | University of Edinburgh, Scotland |
Nasrin Rahimieh | Howard Baskerville Professor of Humanities | University of California, Irvine |
Mohammad Tavakoli-Targhi | Professor of History and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations | University of Toronto |
Stephen Engelmann | Associate Professor of Political Science | University of Illinois, Chicago |
Prashant Keshavmurthy | Associate Professor | Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University |
Mohammad Taghi Karoubi | Professor of International Law | SOAS University |
Peyman Jafari | Lecturer in Modern History | University of Amsterdam |
Fanar Haddad | Senior Research Fellow | Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore |
Kathryn Babayan | "Associate Professor of Iranian History & Culture " | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
Mojtaba Mahdavi | Associate Professor of Political Science and ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies | University of Alberta |
Farzaneh Milani | Chair of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures | University of Virginia |
Nader Entessar | Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Criminal Justice | University of South Alabama |
Noushin Darya Framke | Writer, Editor | TheIPMN.org |
Doug Henwood | Producer/Host, Behind the News | KPFA radio |
Charles E Butterworth | Emeritus Professor, Department of Government & Politics | University of Maryland |
Hamze Ghalebi | Iran Analyst and Former Political Advisor | Paris, France |
Philip G. Kreyenbroek | Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies | University of Goettingen |
Philip Grant | Honorary Fellow, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences | University of Edinburgh |
Hossein Abadian | Professor of Iran Modern History | |
David Yaghoubian | Professor of History | CSU San Bernardino |
Hatsuki Aishima | Associate Professor | National Museum of Ethnology, Japan |
Alexander Jabbari | Assistant Professor of Persian Language and Literature | University of Oklahoma |
Stephanie Cronin | Roshan Research Fellow in Modern Iranian History | St Antony's College, Oxford |
Massoumeh Torfeh | Iran Analyst | London School of Economics |
Jamal Abdi | VP for Policy | National Iranian American Council |
Daniel Brumberg | Director Democracy and Governance Program | Georgetown University, Department of Government |
Saeed Barzin | Iran analyst | BBC World Service (retired) |
Ghoncheh Tazmini | Scholar and Author | |
Reza Zia-Ebrahimi | Senior Lecturer in History | King’s College London |
Mansour Farhang | Professor of Political Science | Bennington College |
Touraj Daryaee | Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies, Culture & History | UC Irvine |
James M. Gustafson | Associate Professor of History | Indiana State University |
Shahir Shahidsaless | Political analyst and freelance journalist | |
Behrooz Bayaz | Physicist, former lecturer at the university of Marburg, Germany and former external expert of IAEA | Freelance analyst |
Mana Kia | Assistant Professor, Middle East, South Asian and African Studies | Columbia University |
Ebrahim Ahmadian | Researcher in Islamic Studies, independent journalist & environmental activist | |
Nima Shirazi | Writer, Editor, Political and Media Analyst | Muftah Magazine / Citations Needed |
Sasan Fayazmanesh | Professor Emeritus of Economics | California State University, Fresno |
Kamiar Mohaddes | Janeway Fellow in Economics | University of Cambridge |
Evaleila Pesaran | Lecturer in Politics and International Relations | Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge |
Edward Wastnidge | Lecturer in Politics & Internatipnal Studies | Open University |
Ellie Geranmayeh | Senior Policy Fellow | |
Hamid Ahmadi | Director | |
Amir Kermani | Assistant Professor of Finance and Real Estate | UC Berkeley |
Alireza Taghaboni | Architect, professor | Nextoffice,Azad university of Iran |
Mehdi Ghadyanloo | Artist/ Public artist | |
Mehran Kamrava | Professor | Georgetown University-Qatar |
Farhang Jahanpour | Distinguished Professor | University of Isfahan |