Two former diplomats with expertise on the Middle East will be part of a moderated discussion on “U.S. – Iran Relations and the Nuclear Deal,” on Thursday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m., in the Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.
Thomas Pickering, former U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs and ambassador to the United Nations, the Russian Federation, India, Israel, and Jordan, and Seyed Hossein Mousavian, former Iranian ambassador and research scholar at Princeton University will examine the marred U.S.-Iran relations within the context of nuclear non-proliferation and wider geopolitical realities in the Middle East. Emad Kiyaei, the Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor of International Affairs at Hamilton, will serve as moderator.
Pickering is vice chairman of Hills & Company, an international consulting firm providing advice to U.S. businesses on investment, trade, and risk assessment issues abroad. Pickering served more than four decades as a U.S. diplomat. He last acted as undersecretary of state for political affairs, the third highest post in the U.S. State Department. Having served as ambassador to the United Nations, the Russian Federation, India, Israel, and Jordan, he holds the personal rank of career ambassador.
Mousavian is a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security. He is a former diplomat who served as Iran’s ambassador to Germany, head of the Foreign Relations Committee of Iran’s National Security Council, vice president of the Center for Strategic Research for International Affairs, general director of foreign ministry for West Europe and spokesman for Iran in its nuclear negotiations with the international community.
Kiyaei is the Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor of International Affairs at Hamilton. He is a former director at the American Iranian Council (AIC) and is the co-author of a forthcoming book, Weapons of Mass Destruction: A new approach to non-proliferation. Currently Kiyaei is a principal at the international consulting firm IGD Group, where he provides political and business leaders with strategic advice in the intersection of political risk, diplomacy, and technology.
The discussion is sponsored by the Government Department and the Dean of Faculty Office with assistance from the Sol M. Linowitz Fund for International Affairs.
