De-escalating the Iran crisis : is there a role for Europe?

Abstract

US-Iran military tension and Europe’s uneasy job running the JCPOA dispute resolution mechanism displays a complicated path to resolve Iran crisis. How can the E3/EU contain the crisis below a manageable threshold? What could be done if the dispute resolution mechanism fails to produce positive results? E3/EU countries need to adopt an inclusive de-escalatory strategy and combine it with nuclear diplomacy. This strategy should incorporate military and security confidence-building measures at its core accompanied by active regional diplomacy and an extension of EU-Iran relations into the developmental and humanitarian dimensions. This paper explores such a de-escalatory strategy and provides clear policy recommendations.