Former Ambassadors to Discuss U.S.-Iran Relations & Nuclear Deal

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 Hamilton College Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

Thomas Pickering, former ambassador to the United Nations, the Russian Federation, India, Israel, and Jordan and former U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, 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 College, will serve as moderator.

Pickering, who will be a guest on WIBX's Keeler Show on Thursday morning, 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. He 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.

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 College. 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.