Dr. Ali Fathollah‑Nejad paints in his FAZ op-ed a stark picture of the high-stakes negotiations between Iran and the U.S. He highlights Iran’s “red lines”: maintaining its full nuclear infrastructure, missile capabilities, and regional “Axis of Resistance.” Without existential threat, none are negotiable. On the U.S. side, complete uranium denuclearization (“zero enrichment”) and missile limitations were demanded—and triggered the latest round’s collapse. Fathollah‑Nejad argues that Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign—comprising crippling sanctions, oil import bans, and explicit military threats—aims to break Tehran economically. He draws parallels to Trump’s first term, warning of similar oil export collapses and economic collapse. For Iran, rejoining a nuclear deal requires full sanctions relief. But the expert cautions that excluding missile limits or the regional proxy network would undermine Europe’s security interests. He concludes that only a truly comprehensive agreement—covering nuclear, missile, and regional dimensions—can deliver sustainable stability.
Dr. Ali Fathollah‑Nejad at FAZ: Iran – Tehran’s Red Lines, Trump’s Maximum Pressure Dr. Ali Fathollah‑Nejad at FAZ: Iran – Tehran’s Red Lines, Trump’s Maximum Pressure
Dr. Ali Fathollah‑Nejad explains in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung how Iran’s firm “red lines” and the U.S.’ strategy of “maximum pressure” are steering negotiations toward crisis—and how economic collapse might force both parties back to the table.
Dr. (PhD) Ali Fathollah-Nejad is a German-Iranian political scientist and author with a focus on the Middle East (especially Iran), Western foreign policy and the post-unipolar world order. He will soon publish “Iran - How the West betrays its values and interests” (Foreword: Natalie Amiri, Aufbau, Fall 2024). He is the founder and director of the Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG), which researches transformations and a foreign policy that reconciles interests and values. Most recently, he published the Chaillot Paper “The Islamic Republic in Existential Crisis: The Need for a Paradigm Shift in the EU's Iran Policy” (EUISS, 2023). Fathollah-Nejad is also the author of the much-praised book “Iran in an Emerging New World Order” (2021) and the study “The Islamic Republic of Iran Four Decades On: The 2017/18 Protests Amid a Triple Crisis” (Brookings, 2020), where he spoke of the beginning of a long-term revolutionary process in Iran.