Asia-Pacific Leaders Join European Counterparts’ Appeal to Protect the Iran Nuclear Deal

On 18 September, 78 European political, diplomatic and military leadership figures, members of the European Leadership Network (ELN), published a group statement on the Iran nuclear deal. The statement makes the case that any unilateral US action that jeopardizes the 14 July 2015 Iran nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – would harm US–Europe relations, particularly if US nuclear-related sanctions on Iran were resumed.

We believe that such developments would also cause profound damage more broadly to global nuclear orders and adversely affect the prospects for a diplomatic resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis.

The JCPOA imposes a robust transparency, inspections and consequences regime. Iran’s nuclear activities are capped under close international inspection in return for easing of sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitors the arrangement.

Successfully addressing proliferation challenges strengthens the legal, moral and political authority of proliferation norms. However a failure anywhere will have repercussions everywhere, well beyond the Middle East. Nuclear threats in the Asia–Pacific region would only be heightened by any unravelling of the unique JCPOA deal backed by unprecedented levels of international verification.

This is why we, the undersigned Members of the Asia–Pacific Leadership Network (APLN), support the ELN statement calling on President Trump and the United States administration to uphold the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

In mid-October, the Trump Administration will report to the US Congress on whether Iran continues to comply with the nuclear deal. Credible reports suggest that the president is looking for a way to justify declaring that Tehran is no longer in compliance with the deal.

A unilateral finding of non-compliance by the US would cast doubt on the integrity of the global nuclear monitoring system of the IAEA, which has assessed that Iran remains compliant. It would also threaten the viability of the multilaterally negotiated JCPOA, and reopen a pathway to an Iranian nuclear weapon. The cascading effect would in turn further deepen the East Asian nuclear crisis, raising doubts about the good faith commitment of the US Administration to any international negotiations to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis peacefully. This would benefit Pyongyang and damage the East Asian non-nuclear weapon states.

Accordingly, we urge President Trump and the United States Congress to address the facts of Iranian compliance on the terms of the deal, not on other points.

September 26, 2017

Signed (61 APLN Members)

Nobuyasu Abe, Japan, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament

Hasmy Agam, Malaysia, former Peermanent Representative to the United Nations; former Chairman of the Malaysian Commission of Human Rights

Mely Cabarello Anthony, Philippines, Associate Professor and Head of Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Indonesia, Research Professor of Research Center for Politics-Indonesian Institute of Sciences

Myung-bok Bae, Republic of Korea, Senior Editorial Writer of the JoongAng Ilbo

Kanti Prasad Bajpai, India, Wilmar Chair in Asian Studies of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore

John Carlson, Australia, Counselor to the Nuclear Threat Initiative

Simon Chesterman, Australia, Dean and Professor of Faculty of Law of National University of Singapore

Dashdorj Zorigt, Mongolia, Executive Director, Mongolia Development Strategy Institute

Jayantha Dhanapala, Sri Lanka, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament; former President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs

Gareth Evans, Australia, former Foreign Minister

Fan Jishe, China, Deputy Director of Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Trevor Findlay, Australia, Principal Fellow at the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne

Sung-joo Han, Republic of Korea, former Minister of Foreign Affairs

Marianne Hanson, Australia, Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland

Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Malaysia, former Chairman of Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia

Peter Hayes, Australia, Director of Nautilus Institute

Pervez Hoodbhoy, Pakistan, Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Forman Christian College University

Rajmah Hussain, Malaysia, former Ambassador to USA

Yongsoo Hwang, Republic of Korea, Principal Researcher at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute

Kuniko Inoguchi, Japan, former Minister of State for Gender Equality and Social Affairs

Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan, Founder and Director of Spearhead Research Lahore Pakistan

Yoriko Kawaguchi, Japan, former Minister for Foreign Affairs

Sung-Hwan Kim, Republic of Korea, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Sawanit Kongsiri, Thailand, Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, Thai Red Cross Society

Hong-koo Lee, Republic of Korea, former Prime Minister

Sang Hyun Lee, Republic of Korea, Vice President for Research Planning at Sejong Institute

Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore

Lalit Mansingh, India, former Foreign Secretary

Chung-in Moon, Republic of Korea, Co-Convenor, Asia-Pacific Leadership Network

Abdul Hameed Nayyar, Pakistan, Senior Research Fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute

Nyamosor Tuya, Mongolia, former Minister for External Affairs

HMGS Palihakkara, Sri Lanka, former Foreign Secretary

Geoffrey Palmer, New Zealand, former Prime Minister

Pan Zhenqiang, China, Senior Advisor to China Reform Forum

Dinusha Panditaratne, Sri Lanka, Executive Director of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies

David Pine, New Zealand, former High Commissioner to Malaysia

Kasit Piromya, Thailand, former Foreign Minister

Surin Pitsuwan, Thailand, former Minister of Foreign Affairs

R. Rajaraman, India, Emeritus Professor of Physics at Jawaharlal Nehru University

Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Pakistan, Chairman of the Defense Committee, Pakistani Senate

Toshio Sano, Japan, former Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva

Manpreet Sethi, India, Senior Fellow, Centre for Air Power Studies

Shen Dingli, China, Associate Dean of Institute of International Studies, Fudan University

Minsoon Song, Republic of Korea, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Rakesh Sood, India, former Ambassador to Conference on Disarmament

Carlos Sorreta, Philippines, Ambassador to Russia

Tatsujiro Suzuki, Japan, Director and Professor of Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University

Ta Minh Tuan, Vietnam, Visiting Professor, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam

Sadia Tasleem, Pakistan, Lecturer for Defense and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University

Ramesh Thakur, Australia, Co-Convenor, Asia-Pacific Leadership Network

John Tilemann, Australia, Director of Research, Asia-Pacific Leadership Network

Ton Nu Thi Ninh, Vietnam, President, Ho Chi Minh City Peace and Development Foundation

Shashi Tyagi, India, former Chief of the Indian Air Force

Siddharth Varadarajan, India, Founding Editor of The Wire

Arun Vishwanathan, India, Assistant Professor in ISSSP at the National Institute of Advance Studies

Vo Van Thuan, Vietnam, Senior Expert-Advisor, Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute

Jooho Whang, Republic of Korea, President of the Korean Nuclear Society

Angela Woodward, New Zealand, Deputy Executive Director at the Verification Research, Training and Information Centre

Hidehiko Yuzaki, Japan, Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture

Zhao Tong, China, Associate, Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy