Calibrated Resistance: The Political Dynamics of Iran's Nuclear Policymaking under Trump

About

Speaker: Abolghasem Bayyenat, Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom

The Trump administration withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aka, the Iran nuclear deal, in May 2018 and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions on Tehran, as part of its broader "maximum pressure strategy," with the aim of drawing more expansive nuclear concessions form the country. Despite the economic havoc caused by U.S. sanctions, Iran pursued what can be described as a strategy of calibrated resistance from May 2018 to January 2021 by refusing to cede further nuclear concessions, and partially and progressively rolling back its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA.

Drawing parallel with domestic and international conditions leading to the successful conclusion of the JCPOA in 2015, this research seeks to put Iran's nuclear policymaking during the Trump administration into perspective and explain why Iran pursued the strategy of calibrated resistance, how this strategy became possible, and why alternative policies became unthinkable or impossible. Given the ongoing nature of this research, this seminar is intended to introduce an analytical framework and present some preliminary empirical analysis on this topic.

Everyone is welcome to join us via Zoom! Please register before the event:
https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYqfuGqrjIiE9WN_u4jDdSGCkYNnTLu1_31 

Contact

For more information, email the International Security Program Assistant at susan_lynch@harvard.edu.