PAAIA Co Sponsors Panel on Iran, Nuclear Talks at Carnegie Endowment
April 16, 2012, Washington D.C.- On Monday, April 16th the Carnegie Endowment in co-sponsorship with PAAIA held a successful, standing-room-only panel, Negotiating with Iran: Istanbul and Its Aftermath, which included discussion on the current round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5 +1 group consisting of the five permanent U.N. Security Council member plus Germany.
The panelists consisted of renowned policy experts Vali Nasr, Ray Takeyh, and George Perkovich and the event was moderated by senior Carnegie Endowment associate Karim Sadjadpour. The panel discussion centered on whether the United States could successfully engage Iran in striking a deal to address Tehran’s controversial nuclear program. The leading Iran experts and former senior Obama administration officials – Vali Nasr, newly named dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Ray Takeyh from the Council on Foreign Relations, provided incite on their expectation of the talks as well as the limits of the negotiations. As an expert on proliferation matters, Director of the Carnegie Nuclear Policy Program, George Perkovich described what he foresaw as a realistic outcome for the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the international community.
In addition to the discussion on the nuclear negotiations taking place in Istanbul, both Sadjadpour and Nasr recognized the importance of PAAIA’s recently commissioned Zogby survey of IranianAmerican attitudes toward a military strike on Iran along with previous PAAIA surveys gauging the community’s sentiments on the variety of issues they hold important. Sadjadpour interpreted the survey findings noting that “inherent in these polls is the community’s sentiment that military action against Iran would prolong the shelf life of the regime.” Dr. Nasr followed by explaining that the polls were conducted because “the community itself wanted to know beyond anecdotal expression where its thinking is on issues related to Iran.”
Based on the importance of the nuclear negotiations to the international community, particularly the United States, a large audience at the event was expected. Yet, attendance exceeded even Sadjadpour’s expectation when he stated “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large crowd here at Carnegie.” This is a testament to the importance of this subject, the need for accurate data on the public’s views on issues of military strike, and the need for continued dialogue on this subject. PAAIA looks forward to continuing its effort in supporting similar events engaging policy leaders and opinion-makers on issues of high importance for the IranianAmerican community.
To view the PAAIA sponsored panel at the Carnegie Endowment click on the following link:
http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/04/16/negotiating-with-iran-istanbul-and-its-aftermath/a68w
View PAAIA’s recent survey of Iranian Americans at:
https://paaia.org/CMS/survey-of-iranian-americans.aspx
