Iran After Elections: International Prospects

In this special evening talk session Dr. Seyed Karimi discussed recent presidental elections in Iran and focused on new energy with which Hassan Rohani was eleceted as a new Iranian president. He also discussed issues of Iranian nuclear program and the necessity of dialogue in overcomming the political crysis.

Naturaly, the attention of the audience was mainly on the nuclear waepons program. Karimi talked about setlement of nuclear issue, and stressed that there is no incentive for Iran to use nuclear weapons; he reminded that the weapons of mass destruction are not islamic and marked that Iran is against these kinds of weapons. Iran is looking for peace and has not attacked any contry in the recent past. For Karimi, Iran is the victim of chemical weapons use.

Karimi underlined that having dialogue is essential: „Because of the lack of understanding we really need the dialog; we need more dialogue to sort out our differences“. Karimi expressed hope that new faces and a new government will make new opportunities.

It is Karimi’s belief that the countries that have nuclear weapons are not really secure. „You don’t need nuclear weapons and weapons of mass distruction. More of 70% Iraninas voted in the elections –  that is the real power, not nuclear weapons“, Karimi concluded.

Dr. Seyed Vahid Karimi is a director of Directorate for European Studies at the Institute for Political and International Studies in Iran.

The talk was moderated by Bosko Jaksic, foreign policy editor-in-chief, Politika.