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U.S.-Iran Relations
June 21, 2007
Suzanne Maloney, co-chair of the Iran Working Group, briefed Congress on the rising tensions in U.S.-Iran relations over Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The briefing was a part of the bipartisan Congressional briefing series sponsored by Congressmen Howard Berman (D-CA) and Chris Shays (R-CT).
USIP and PIPA Give Advance Briefing on Unprecedented In-Depth Poll of Iranians
January 16, 2007
During this meeting, USIP and the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) conducted a briefing on new data from their survey of Iranian public opinion. This survey, fielded in conjunction with Search for Common Ground and an Iranian research agency, breaks much new ground and covers a wide array of international policy issues. Public opinion polling in Iran that is fully available to international audiences is rare. This survey is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,000 persons obtained through in-depth, in-person interviews, and the methods and questionnaire are fully documented. During this meeting, PIPA presented top-line results of this unique contribution to ongoing policy debates about Iran.
In coming months, USIP and PIPA will be authoring further analyses detailing the national regional findings of this survey on vital issues such as Iran’s nuclear program, attitudes toward the U.S. and international institutions such as the UN and the IAEA, among others.
The power point slides of this presentation are available here.
The survey methods are available for download here.
For information released by PIPA and Search for Common Ground, see www.WorldPublicOpinion.org.
On January 16, 2007, the United States Institute of Peace inaugurated its Iran Working Group, a collaboration of government and non-governmental experts that meet regularly to discuss current issues relating to Iran.
To meet the need for a regular forum for government and non-government experts in Washington and abroad to convene regularly to exchange views and explore policy options in a private, non-partisan setting, USIP created the Iran Policy Forum in 2007. Four meetings were held in 2007. In 2008, USIP collaborated with Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution to reframe the Iran Policy Forum into the Iran Working Group. In 2008, USIP and Brookings collaborated on three working group meetings, focusing on Iran's April parliamentary elections (with meetings both before and after the election itself) and the role of youth in Iran. All three meetings were well attended by noted experts and policymakers on Iran.
In 2009, USIP and Brookings continued their collaboration and co-hosted working group sessions. The working group meetings focus on examining concrete policy options for the U.S. presidential administration; Iran’s internal politics; Iranian social and cultural dynamics; economic conditions and policies; and Iran’s relationship with the international community.
Goals
- To increase the breadth and depth of knowledge about developments in Iran among the foreign policy community.
- To facilitate interaction among Iran analysts and to build bridges between officials and experts
- To develop proposals, ideas, and policy recommendations designed to prevent conflict between Iran and the U.S.