In Jillian Burns’ insightful lecture, she shared her experience and opinions about U.S. Policy towards Iran and potential changes in the future. Burns explained that cohesive multilateral pressure has worked most effectively with Iran because they will say no until they are ready to say yes. She also states that “for policy to be effective, it has to be based on correct assumptions. If the underlying assumptions are wrong, there’s no way you can get policy right.” On the economic side, placing maximum economic pressure against Iran and deterring any countries from doing business with them is most important. Iran is currently facing huge economic threats between ongoing sanctions and the economic impact of coronavirus crisis, plus the drop in oil prices. As far as future U.S.-Iran relations, Burns remains hopeful. She expresses, “there is a path to get there, but there’s got to be a lot of political will. I’m not optimistic in the short term, but long term absolutely.”
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