Foreign Affairs committee  First of all, I do agree with your starting assessment that Iran's foreign policy has not fundamentally changed, before and after the JCPOA, so I think at that level we are in agreement. I would make a side point that I find—and this has been one of my big areas of research—that

Foreign Affairs committee  I must say that I am rigorously non-partisan in my analyses. It is very difficult to answer your question specifically because very little is known, at least publicly, about consular issues. That is why, in the case of Homa Hoodfar, which was resolved earlier this year, we do no

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. That's a good question. That human rights in Iran are bad is undeniable. You did not hear me deny that, or challenge the individual pieces of your question. One small point that I would emphasize, though, is to say that executions under Rouhani increased is factually t

Foreign Affairs committee  You don't have to convince me that human rights are bad in Iran. I absolutely agree with you on that. Where I do think the discussion at a foreign policy level is useful is that from my perspective, there's nothing to gain from shunning a country like Iran. It is a nice pat on t

Foreign Affairs committee  We can agree to disagree on this one, but ultimately, my view is that foreign policy is about the calibration of multiple priorities. For human rights to be the only priority in the relationship with a country like Iran, or any other for that matter, is not optimal. As small a c

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. That is a very good question. In answer to your question, I must point out that I am not an expert on sanctions in general. My expertise is more in the Middle East, Iran, and Canada's relations with this region. I would be reluctant to comment on sanctions i

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. In this case, I am referring to the unilateral dimension, given that Canada, in general terms and in the case of Iran, follows other countries at the multilateral level. When the UN Security Council decided for instance to adopt sanctions against the United States,

Foreign Affairs committee  In my opinion, the answer is an unqualified yes. I did not say so specifically in my presentation, but I think my assessment was clear and that this act has a negative impact on Canada's national interests. The main thrust of my presentation, however, is that it is a very compl

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, potentially. As to Syria, we can scarcely refer to it as a country right now. So we can set it aside. In my opinion, the problem with this act is not so much the countries that are not on the list because, given the definition of sponsoring terrorism, there could clearly be

Foreign Affairs committee  In the current post-JCPOA context?

Foreign Affairs committee  At this point, the JCPOA calls for a lifting of a lot of the sanctions, but not all of them. It's been pretty clear on paper at least that it's the nuclear-related sanctions that are lifted. Other non-nuclear sanctions are not lifted, whether it's for human rights, for support fo

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. My presentation today will focus on the role of sanctions as a tool of foreign policy. More specifically, I will discuss how imposing sanctions can have some short-term benefits, but constrain future options and end up bringing more costs than gains. My sta