The Assassination of Diplomacy; Prospects For Peace With Iran

December 3, 2020

THIS WEEK IN DC - Biden unveils his Economic team and nominates Janet Yellen for Treasury Secretary; Congress readies for its busiest “lame duck” session in memory; Moderna approaching FDA for emergency authorization; Upon hearing oral aguments, Supreme Court appears wary of Trump administration’s effort to exclude undocumented immigrants from Census; Biden announces his administration’s new all-woman and ethnically diverse Communications Team.

 

 In This Issue 

  • Feature Story: The Assassination of Diplomacy;
  • MPAC hosts a panel discussion on Muslim integration into French secular society;
  • MPAC’s own Prema Rahman and Baqir Mohie El-Deen pen analyses on vaccine distribution and US-Iran diplomatic relations;
  • 35% of Muslims voted for Trump — next week, guests from CAIR National and Youssef Chouhoud join us to break down the exit poll results. 



 Featured Issue 

Assassination of Diplomacy; Prospects for Peace with Iran

M BAQIR MOHIE EL-DEEN ANALYZES THE IMPLICATIONS

Last week, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack that took the life of the academic physicist and alleged father of Iran’s nuclear program. However, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif drew a connection between the attack and last week’s meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. All three parties have denied involvement. History often repeats, and we remain concerned that assassinations of foreign officials may escalate into global conflict just as they once led to the first World War.

Read the full analysis



 This Week at MPAC'S DC Bureau 

Last week, MPAC hosted a panel discussion between Muslims in France. Our conversation touched on the various issues effecting Muslim integration into French secular society.

On Tuesday, MPAC hosted Asma Uddin, Esq., a legal scholar who focuses on issues of religious freedom, for our Qur’an class. We delved into some of the issues brought up by the SCOTUS’ recent decision to lift restrictions on Orthodox Jewish congregations in New York.

With vaccine approval, we face a new dilemma: who will be the first in line for vaccination? Prema Rahman contributes an Islamic perspective to the ethical debates on COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

 

 Good to Know 

      • Earlier this week, President Trump threatened to veto the NDAA, the United States’ defense policy legislation, unless Congress included a repeal of section 230 in the measure. Section 230 is a measure, originally passed in a completely separate bill, which protects online companies such as Facebook and Twitter from lawsuits over content posted on their platforms. Politico has more on the internal dynamics.
      • The UK became the first country to approve the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid vaccine for mass rollout. The BBC has more.
      • Earlier this week, a bipartisan Senate group sought to break through partisan gridlock by introducing a $908 billion stimulus plan. The Washington Post provides coverage.
      • The French Interior Minister announced that France would investigate dozens of mosques suspected of ‘separatism’. Reuters staff covers the development.
      • Iran rejected the terms for reviving the nuclear deal set by President-Elect Biden. BBC explores the internal dynamics in greater depth.
 

 

This Week in History

On December 1, 1988 Benazir Bhutto was named Prime Minster of Pakistan, becoming the 1st female Prime Minister of a Muslim Country;

On December 3, 1847 Frederick Douglass published the first issue of his newspaper "North Star";

On December 4, 765, Jafar al-Sadiq, the 6th Shi’i Imam and progenitor of the Ja’afari School of Thought, died at 63;

On that same day in 2017, the United States Supreme Court voted in favor of the third iteration of President Trump’s infamous Muslim Ban.

 

 

 

 

 This Week's Feature 

  By: M. Baqir Mohie El-Deen, Policy Programs Manager  December 3, 2020
   

The Assassination of Diplomacy; Prospects For
Peace With Iran 

L AST WEEK, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack that took the life of the academic physicist and alleged father of Iran’s nuclear program.

However, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif drew a connection between the attack and last week’s meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. All three parties have denied involvement. History often repeats, and we remain concerned that assassinations of foreign officials may escalate into global conflict just as they once led to the first World War.

President-Elect Joe Biden included in his platform that the United States will re-enter the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran Nuclear Deal. What many fail to recognize is that Iranians may decide to not participate in any agreement with the United States, regardless of who occupies the White House. Initially, Iranian “hardliners” opposed the agreement signed in 2015 by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and President Barack Obama believing that America would not keep its promises in the agreement. This proved to be the case when President Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement three years later. The two assassinations in Iran this year have cast further doubt upon U.S. credibility amongst Iranians, allowing for the once-”hardline” view to become adopted by the Iranian mainstream.

For peace initiatives to be fruitful in the Middle East, the United States and Iran must engage in diplomatic agreements and negotiations.

Such diplomacy will stabilize the region and thwart efforts for war between America’s allies and Iran. As Iranians prepare to head to the polls in June to elect a new president, President Rouhani’s attempt at nuclear diplomacy is taking center stage amongst Iranians. President Rouhani cannot seek reelection for a third term, and “hardliners” like Hossein Dehghan are bullish on the prospect of diplomacy with the United States; they believe that the United States will never seek peace with Iran. Their narrative has been gaining popular support following America’s assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and now the assassination of Fakhrizadeh — for which many Iranians believe the U.S. is responsible.

The recent assassination does nothing to thwart Iran’s nuclear program. Sina Toossi, a senior research analyst at the National Iranian American Council, recently told The Middle East Eye that “Iran’s nuclear programme is institutionalised and the loss of one scientist, however influential his role in the programme was at one point, won’t set back Iran’s nuclear capabilities.” He goes on stating that the assassination comes as Trump has become “undoubtedly desperate” after Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran failed to yield the results hoped for by the U.S. President and his allies, Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “There are many signs that they now wish to escalate tensions further with Iran. Their best hope is to create a destructive situation that ties Biden’s hands diplomatically and prevents any restoration of the [Iran nuclear] deal.”

President-Elect Joe Biden will inherit a broken relationship with Iran riddled with obstacles to diplomatic relations. While Iran’s position is unclear at the moment, they will probably delay any talks with the United States until they elect a new president. They will expect the United States to make more concessions in order to account for their withdrawal from the original JCPOA agreement and the two recent assassinations. In 2015, both sides of the table believed they conceded too much. Regardless of which voice represents Iran in these talks, they will not accept the same concessions, nor is it clear what the U.S. is even willing to offer.

 

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