Negotiating Iran nuclear crisis: transatlantic relations and beyond

Official URL: http://192.168.1.20/record=b1266187 (Table of Contents)

This study examined the nature of interactions among the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and Iran on the Iranian nuclear crisis by treating each interaction as a negotiation process. After the collection of the public statements of the US, the EU and Iran that appeared in the media, a form of content analysis, Bargaining Process Analysis (BPA), was used as the research methodology of this study. The levels of disagreement and competitiveness for each interaction were compared in analyzing the nature of the negotiation process among each party. The findings showed that among the other interactions the US-Iran interaction had the highest disagreement level and the most competitive character, followed by the transatlantic alliance-Iran interaction, the EU-Iran interaction, and the US-EU interaction, respectively, in terms of both disagreement and competitiveness scores. Moreover, it was found that the EU member states alone tended to have either higher disagreement or competitiveness scores compared to the EU's behavior as an organization. Furthermore, the US had a lower disagreement rate and was more competitive than Iran. The EU had higher disagreement and competitiveness scores than the US. This study also showed that Iran rated higher in disagreement than the EU and finally, the EU rated higher in competitiveness than Iran.