https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46550 2026-04-11T03:09:46Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46629 Title: Iran nuclear deal and European Union : the end of a myth? Abstract: On the 2nd of April 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the P5+1 (the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China—plus Germany) and the European Union, (known as JCPOA), was signed in Vienna, and was considered by the European Union as a personal victory. For the EU, JCPOA represented the living demonstration that its soft power was a reality and that this organization, without military means, was able to have a political and diplomatic weight upon the world. However, this agreement, reached despite so many difficulties, is now in turmoil under the Trump presidency. Is this model condemned? Description: This document contains Notes on Authors, the Seminar Agenda, and a photo inset. 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46628 Title: The vulnerable Iran nuclear deal : a failure in the two-level game Abstract: Recent statements and decisions by the Trump Administration have signaled the Administration’s willingness to destabilize the Iran nuclear deal. These events have been viewed through a variety of lenses in an attempt to both understand why current decisions were made, but also in an attempt to predict future action. The Administration’s positions have been seen alternately as isolationist or heavy handed, as ignoring the international community and international commitments or putting America first. But the Trump administration’s ability to back away from an international obligation is founded in what I believe is a political not a policy failure. It reflects the inability of the Obama Administration to sell the Iran Nuclear deal to the American public and their elected representatives, in terms that made the vastly complicated technical deal comprehensible to a public whose attention span is limited. More importantly, the Obama Administration did not fulfill the requirements of two level negotiation needed to bring the internal political constituency onboard and to get them committed to the deal as the best alternative. 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46627 Title: The Iran nuclear deal two years on : future unclear and getting worse Abstract: The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was formally agreed on 14 July 2015 between Iran and the so-called E3/EU+3: United Kingdom, France, Germany, United States, Russia, China, and the European Union. It was a culmination of nearly two years of difficult negotiations, and is an extraordinarily complex document, spanning, with all its annexes, over a hundred pages. It ensures that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons for 10-15 years in exchange for the easing of sanctions. The implementation is guaranteed by a comprehensive institutional framework and the most intrusive verification regime in the history of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/46572 Title: What future for the Iran nuclear deal? Abstract: Since the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA) was concluded, the International Atomic Energy Agency which is tasked with verification of its implementation has been regularly reporting that Iran has been adhering to the deal since it took effect1. Corresponding abolition of some sanctions and increased European economic ties to Iran followed, and the EU and the E3 - the EU countries involved in negotiating the deal - lauded the agreement as stabilizing the region, strengthening the transatlantic relations, and shoring up the global non-proliferation regime. Still, the future of the agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany is unclear and precarious. US President Trump in January 2018 set a 120-day deadline (12th May 2018) for US lawmakers and European allies to “fix” the deal, one of President Obama’s main foreign policy achievements, otherwise the US would exit the agreement. 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z