Two major diplomatic changes occurred recently between the US and Iran and Cuba. Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, UK, US + Germany) completed an agreement regarding Iran’s nuclear program. It is historic that the US and Iran engaged in diplomatic relations and that the sanctions against Iran will end. The agreement opens Iran up for more foreign investment and trade. Will war be averted? We speak with Professor Muhammad Sahimi, a chemical engineer who frequently writes about Iranian politics and the nuclear program to hear an Iranian perspective on this agreement. And diplomatic relations were restored with Cuba after 54 years of economic and political isolation. The Cuban embassy was reopened in Washington, DC. We speak with Miguel Fraga, the First Secretary of the Cuban Embassy about the restoration of diplomacy, what Cuba is asking of the US and how the US is responding.
Listen here:
Iran and Cuba – Is Diplomacy Working? with Dr. Muhammad Sahimi and Miguel Fraga by Clearingthefog on Mixcloud
Relevant articles and websites:
Demonizing Iran to Prevent the Nuclear Agreement by Muhammad Sahimi
Iranian’s View of the Nuclear Deal: Optimistic, with Significant Caveats by Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain
Iran News and Middle East Reports
Cuban Embassy Opens in Washington but Important Issues remain Unresolved by Paul Lewis
Guests:
Dr. Muhammad Sahimi is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and holds the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. He is also active in journalism, writing frequently on Iranian politics. Sahimi received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tehran in 1977. After briefly working for the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), he received a scholarship from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and traveled to the USA in 1978 (where he has since remained), completing his PhD at the University of Minnesota in 1984. He then moved to the University of Southern California, becoming Chairman of his department from 1999–2005. Since then he has held the NIOC Chair, which was formerly known as the “Shah Chair”, having been endowed by Shah Reza Pahlavi. He has also been a visiting professor in Australia and Europe, and a consultant to many industrial corporations.
Since 2003, Sahimi has written many articles on the subject of Iranian politics (particularly the Iranian nuclear programme) for websites such as Payvand, Antiwar.com and the Huffington Post. He has been a regular columnist for Tehran Bureau since 2008, and has written occasional pieces for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal the Harvard International Review and The Progressive. Sahimi is co-founder and editor of the website, Iran News and Middle East Reports.
Miguel Fraga is the First Secretary of the Embassy of Cuba in the US. For the past 4 years, he worked in the office of the United States Division of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Havana, Cuba. Prior to that, he served as Third Secretary in the Cuban Embassy in Canada. Fraga received a Bachelor of Science in Law at the University of Havana and a Master of Science in Foreign Relations from the Higher Institute of Foreign Relations “Raul Roa Garcia” in Havana.