Since the United States left the Iran nuclear agreement in 2018, formally known as the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), intense diplomatic discussions have been held by its other signatories and Iran to give it a chance to survive in the new international context. With U.S. sanctions being re-established on Iran, restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities being lifted, and the war in Ukrainian becoming a hotspot of international tensions, the challenges have been unprecedented, so that chances that the JCPOA would continue to shape Iran’s nuclear conduct remained slim. A year after intense efforts to revive the JCPOA have been started, it is time to reflect on the current state of the Iran nuclear negotiation, bearing in mind its long-term history. This lecture will present the main lessons drawn by Ambassador Stephan Klement over his 20 years involvement in the Iran nuclear negotiation. He will share some of his insights and experiences from multilateral nuclear negotiations, including into cultural aspects of negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program.

Ambassador Klement is the Permanent Representative of the European Union to the United Nations in Vienna and a Special Advisor in charge of the nuclear implementation of the JCPOA in the European External Action Service.  He has been involved since 2004 in a leading role in the Iran nuclear negotiations, and, in particular in the technical side to negotiate, implement and preserve the JCPOA. More generally, he has more than 20 years' experience in the nuclear policy and nuclear non-proliferation filed, working in different European Institutions, as well as in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He holds a doctoral degree in physics as well as in international law.

The discussion will be jointly moderated by Erica Moret, Senior Researcher of the Global Governance Centre, and Grégoire Mallard, Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology and Director of Research at the Geneva Graduate Institute.