Stability in the Middle East: Rethinking Diplomacy with Iran

Faced with multiple uncertainties, actors and conflicting interests among regional and international players in the Middle Eastern region, Italy and the European Union can play a role in fostering dialogue by rethinking their strategy toward the region, prioritising its stabilisation through various modes of interaction with Iran.
To date, the isolation of the Islamic Republic has not yielded the expected results, either domestically or internationally. On the contrary, the regime has intensified internal repression, accelerated the development of its nuclear programme, increased its policy of supporting Russia against the West, and expanded military backing of paramilitary groups in the region. At the same time, the Islamic Republic finds itself in a moment of diplomatic weakness at the regional level, following numerous Israeli attacks on the country and its allies, highlighting the regime’s need to rethink its regional and international priorities and partnerships.
When present, European diplomacy with Tehran has also shown significant limitations, as it has been narrowly focused on the nuclear issue or stalled due to Iran’s anti-Western rhetoric and Europe’s focus on Iran’s provision of drones to Russia in Ukraine.
In this context, the project aims to concretely rethink the methods of interaction with Iran to prevent acute crises (such as those that have occurred in recent months) from escalating into a regional conflict. Through the organisation of formal and informal dialogue sessions, both bilaterally and multilaterally with Iran, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and other regional stakeholders, the project seeks to provide the space and expertise needed to strengthen existing channels of dialogue and explore new ones.
The project includes two closed-door webinars, a closed-door event with regional stakeholders, a policy paper for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a closed-door roundtable with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a visit to Iran and two IAI Commentaries.

Funding: Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation