Lifting sanctions on Iran offers window for progress

The removal of nuclear sanctions on Iran is welcome.

The lifting of the sanctions - thanks to the Vienna agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - has not only led to the expansion of the country’s regional co-operation, but also provided an opportunity for its interaction with other countries.

It has also created an opening in the country’s foreign relations, especially with European States following many years of tension.

Frequent visits to Iran by European delegations and their efforts to expand political, economic, scientific and cultural ties with Iran, which started soon after the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and have continued up to the present time, are good evidence to this fact.

In addition to national self-reliance, the country’s progress in the global arena will also need expansion of positive interaction in foreign and international policy. Realisation of such interaction requires not only political and economic factors, but scientific and cultural investment at the international level.

During the past years, Iran has achieved great progress in various scientific fields, but has also faced many hardships due to conditions brought about by sanctions imposed on it. Expansion of scientific relations with the world, especially with Europe, can lead to further prosperity and growth of science and technology in Iran.

Quite recently, the Science magazine published an article on Iran’s scientific advances in its September 3, 2015, issue saying that after sanctions and restrictions against Iran are lifted, the country would see a new era of scientific prosperity and advancement.

In view of this issue and also in light of Iran’s powerful nuclear diplomacy, more scientific and academic delegations from European countries are visiting Iran. This will greatly boost its capabilities in this field.

It will also help create more manoeuvring room for the country’s scientific diplomacy in addition to the aforementioned political and economic opening.

Bolstering scientific and technological base and increasing the scientific power and influence of Iran at regional and global levels are the main goals that have been set for the country’s scientific sector and it is noteworthy that in addition to political diplomacy and economic interaction, every country needs public diplomacy as well.

The signing of JCPOA and gradual lifting of sanctions has not only brought about a major opening in Iran’s political and economic diplomacy, but also caused European universities to welcome new conditions for expanding their scientific relations with Iran.

This situation will not only uplift the quality of science, research and technology available to Iranian universities, but also enable European universities to work with their Iranian counterparts in such areas as Islamic studies, linguistics, archaeology and some technical disciplines.

Science and technology, along with economy and politics, constitute an important dimension of Iran’s development outlook, which would be realised not in conditions of isolation, but through interaction as well as effective and two-way contacts with the world.

Before the lifting of the sanctions, the world saw Iran as a threat to regional and global security. It had cut its relations with Iran not only in the political and economic fields, but also science.

At present, due to suitable conditions that exist at international level, Iran has once again become a subject for political, economic and scientific co-operation in the world.