Ali Vaez and Philippe Welti on the Future of the Iran Deal Under Trump
U.S. President Barack Obama has said that he considers the Iran nuclear deal one of his administration’s greatest foreign policy achievements. The deal, which was negotiated between Iran and the P5 + 1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany), went in effect early this year, and lifts economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for Iran abandoning its nuclear build-up. But since the election of Donald Trump, the future of the deal has looked shaky, as both Trump and members of his transition team have repeatedly criticised it in the past, and threatened to pull out of it.
On November 16, 2016, Asia Society Switzerland discussed the future of the deal — and the future of Iran — with Philippe Welti, former Swiss ambassador to Iran, and Ali Vaez, senior Iran analyst at the Crisis Group in Washington, D.C. Just before the event, we sat down with Ali to ask him some additional questions. For excerpts of our conversation, please visit Asia Blog. Read the full interview on our Medium channel.