The leaders of Iran and the United States have been trading fiery rhetoric these past few months. At the recent NATO summit, President Trump stated there might be an “escalation” between the two nations.

Join us for a discussion with Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian, former diplomat and spokesman for Iran in its nuclear negotiations with the international community, and Ambassador James B. Cunningham, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Israel, and the United Nations in New York, as we address the central question:

Are the U.S. and Iran headed toward an inevitable conflict or ultimate reconciliation?

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Featuring:

Ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian is a Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Spet at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is a former diplomat who served as Iran’s Ambassador to Germany (1990-1997), Head of the Foreign Relations Committee of Iran’s National Security Council (1997-2005), Spokesman for Iran in its nuclear negotiations with the international community (2003-2005), Foreign Policy Advisor to the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (2005-2007), Vice President of the Center for Strategic Research for International Affairs (2005-2009), General Director of Foreign Ministry for West Europe (1987-1990), Chief of Parliament Administration (1984-1986) and the editor-in-chief of the English-language international newspaper Tehran Times (1980-1990). Ambassador Mousavian earned a PhD in international relations from the University of Kent in the U.K. He is author of “The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir” published by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in June 2012.

Ambassador James B. Cunningham joined the Atlantic Council in May 2015 as a senior fellow in the South Asia Center and the Zalmay Khalilzad chair on Afghanistan. He became a nonresident senior fellow in May 2016. He served as ambassador to Afghanistan (August 2012 to December 2014), and as deputy ambassador (2011 – 2012). He was ambassador to Israel (2008 -2011), consul general for Hong Kong and Macau (2005 – 2008), ambassador and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in New York (1999 – 2004), and acting permanent representative to the United Nations for the first nine months of 2001, including on 9/11. Ambassador Cunningham is the recipient of multiple awards from the State Department, the National Performance Review’s Hammer Award for Innovation in Management, the US President’s Meritorious Service Award (twice), and has received awards from the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, the Secretary of Defense, the Afghan government, and Syracuse University.

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