Program Details

Brinksmanship and the Iran Nuclear Deal: Will the JCPOA Survive?

Instructor
Joseph Sassoon
FPL12101
Video Catch-up
Available

Course Description

The Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the deal. It imposed crippling economic sanctions as part of a "maximum pressure" strategy designed to seal off Iran from the global economy. The Biden administration wants America to join a revised deal that is "longer and stronger" (more years, heavier safeguards). The U.S. Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, oversees the high-stakes diplomacy needed to re-write the agreement. Iranian President Rouhani insists his nation has only peaceful intentions.  To date, the parties appear to be far apart, threatening the breakdown of the talks and the survival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). What can be done to save the deal and prevent Iran from manufacturing a nuclear weapon? Kahn will give a detailed overview of the ongoing negotiations and his view of the potential outcomes.


About the Instructor

  • Joseph Sassoon, Ph.D. is a Professor of History and Political Economy at Georgetown University and holds the al-Sabah Chair in Politics and Political Economy of the Arab World. He is also a Senior Associate Member at St Antony’s College, Oxford. In 2013, his book Saddam Hussein’s Ba‘th Party: Inside an Authoritarian Regime (Cambridge University Press, 2012) won the prestigious British-Kuwait Prize for the best book on the Middle East. Sassoon completed his Ph.D at St Antony’s College, Oxford. He has published extensively on Iraq and its economy and on the Middle East. His fifth book is titled: The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire (Pantheon, 2022)