EUROPE WEEK: After the Deal: Prospects for Better Relations with Iran
When EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, announced in mid-January 2016 that Iran had "fulfilled its commitments," as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated and signed in 2015, European ministers - companies in tow - were seemingly outpacing one another to welcome Iran back into the international community following the end of the sanctions regime. What does this new level of engagement mean for Iran's role in the region, for its economic stability, for its wider relationship with the international community? What role do particularly European countries need to play - diplomatically, commercially - in ensuring Iran serves as a stabilizing actor in a volatile region? What of the EU-US partnership in the negotiation and in joint diplomatic efforts toward Iran and its neighbor and adversary, Saudi Arabia?