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The election of a new president in the United States presents the prospect of major changes in US foreign policies, especially toward Iran. Depending on the results of US elections, these changes cannot begin to be implemented until after Inauguration Day in January of the new year, while an urgent need exists for other players to bridge the gap.

None are better suited to this task than the US’s closest allies in Europe which have already played a significant role in the negotiations that led to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Britain, France and Germany – the E-3 – and the European Union have also worked tirelessly to keep the JCPOA alive in the face of the unilateral US withdrawal from the agreement in 2018, the imposition of draconian sanctions by the Trump administration and escalating tensions in the Middle East.

A new report by Ellie Geranmayeh, Barbara Slavin, and Sahil Shah presents a series of recommendations for the E-3 and the EU to preserve the JCPOA, promote regional peace and development and boost people-to-people contacts with Iran in concert with a potential new US administration. Taken together, these steps would amount to a renewed transatlantic diplomatic agenda through which the United States and European allies can stabilize the nuclear file and then build on the resulting diplomatic momentum to address other concerns with Iran.

The Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative and the European Leadership Network invite you to a discussion of these recommendations and the prospects for diplomacy with Iran. 

Read the report

Introduced by

Damon Wilson
Executive Vice President
Atlantic Council

Keynote remarks

Federica Mogherini
Former High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Union
Executive Board Member, European Leadership Network

A conversation with

Ellie Geranmayeh
Senior Policy Fellow, Deputy Head of Middle East and North Africa Program
European Council on Foreign Relations

Sahil Shah
Policy Fellow
European Leadership Network

Barbara Slavin
Director, Future of Iran Initiative
Atlantic Council

Moderated by

Borzou Daragahi
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Atlantic Council