THE REVIVAL OF JCPOA: CHALLENGES AND CONSEQUENCES FOR GLOBAL PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT AMID NEW REGIONAL ALIGNMENTS

Abstract

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a mixed blessing for international peace and security but its revival may lead to fresh challenges to regional powers due to fluid international environment. In early March 2022, signals from Vienna were that the tricky negotiations spread over one year to revive JCPOA were “on the verge of success”.   But soon the optimism dissipated. Widely different assessments of the Doha talks by the stakeholders nuanced their strategies. For instance, the EU representative for foreign policy and security, Joseph Borrell Fontelles cautioned against “crossing the finish line”. The US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley declared it “a wasted occasion.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian expressed his determination “to continue negotiating until a realistic agreement is reached.”  Erwin Van Veen explains the variant views and held that these leaders’ perceptions of broader geopolitical environment in which the negotiations for nuclear deal are taking place, their own domestic constraints, and the combined effect of these variables led to different interpretations and for “upping the game”.