The main facilitators of the 2015 accord on Iran’s nuclear program, slammed as the worst deal ever by U.S. President Donald Trump, could be among the top contenders for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, according to researchers who predict potential winners, Bloomberg reports.
Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, and Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, are the best candidates because they convened the process that ended with the ease of sanctions against Tehran in return for nuclear restrictions, according to Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, which makes a shortlist each year with mixed results.
“The threat of the use of nuclear-arm force is more real than it has been, with North Korea being in play as well. It’s important to support initiatives that prevent the development and proliferation of nuclear arms,” Urdal said.
Leaving John Kerry out was no criticism of the former U.S. secretary of state’s role in the deal, the PRIO director said, but could be a way of highlighting to Trump – who has said he’s made a decision on whether the U.S. will continue to abide by the deal – that it has broad international support.
The agreement was a political triumph for both former U.S. President Barack Obama, who had long promised to reach out to historic enemies, and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, who was elected on a promise to alleviate the isolation of his nation of 80 million people.
Not only does Norwegian Nobel Institute want to reward high-profile diplomacy, but it also may seek to stick it to Washington, especially against the backdrop of President Trump’s likely refusal to certify Iranian compliance with the deal. Such politicized decision, however, would ultimately only embarrass the Nobel committee, given the records of the perspective laureates, Washington Examiner says.
Mogherini is a veteran of the Italian Communist Party, a global movement responsible for the deaths of 100 million people in the 20th and 21st centuries and has never in her life advocated for individual liberty or freedom. When she visited Tehran after the deal, she could have spoken out on behalf of women but, instead, by conforming to Islamic Republic-mandated dress imposed upon Iranian women, she mimicked their oppression.
Zarif, meanwhile, has lied about Iranian involvement in Syria, provided cover for atrocities in Syria, and excused Syrian President (and Iranian client) Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons against civilians. Had it not been for Iranian support for the Assad regime, several hundred thousand men, women, and children would be alive today.
Kerry, meanwhile, with his noxious mix of unbridled ambition, gullibility, a poor grasp of facts, and in a fit of personal pique, reversed decades of Middle East peace process precedent and may have set the cause of peace back decades.
In a way, though, a prize for Mogherini, Zarif, and Kerry would be par for the course.They have certainly expended enough of other peoples’ blood in order to qualify.
If Kerry, Zarif and Mogherini receive the prize, it would also be considered a clear rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump and his likely refusal to certify Iranian compliance with the JCPOA. The future of the deal, and whether it could or should be amended, remains hotly contested in Washington, Arab News writes.
What is certain, however, is that the present level of Arab-Iranian acrimony over competing visions for the region is unsustainable, and mechanisms for reconciliation, peace and conflict resolution between Tehran and its Gulf neighbors are sorely needed and should be pursued.
The peace prize winner will be announced on Friday at 11 a.m.