TEHRAN- Iran's snap elections have provided an opportunity to re-examine Iran's relationship with the European Union and the MENA region and to create the possibility of maximum convergence at the global level in the confrontation with Israel.

This is a unique opportunity that will affect Iran's security and sustainable development, ensure the security of the region through Israel's political and defensive blockade in the region and the world, and reduce the threat of ISIS and Salafist groups. 

The important thing is to take advantage of this situation properly. And this should be the art of Dr. Pezeshkian. The Iranian Reform Front has always been on the side of interactive relations with the world and playing a positive role in global developments. This stance was also repeated with great frequency in Dr. Pezeshkian's speeches. Now is the time to take a practical step. Nabila Massrali, the spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, extended congratulations to Pezeshkian, saying the EU stands ready to engage with his administration. 

The reality is that relations between Iran and the West cooled after the withdrawal of the United States under the presidency of Trump from the JCPOA, and bitter events were witnessed in the follow-up of bilateral and multilateral interaction. Although it was expected that with Biden's arrival, new blood would be pumped into the veins of the JCPOA, but this did not happen, and this historic opportunity was wasted. Now is not the time to judge the perpetrators of this opportunism from both sides. However, in any case, the detrimental consequences of security as well as its economic and communication losses cannot be ignored. With the arrival of Biden at the end of the twelfth administration, constructive negotiations took place and it was expected that the JCPOA would be revived. Mr. Rouhani postponed the signing of the agreement to the 13th government. Apparently, this was done out of respect for the next government and perhaps in coordination with other high-ranked officials. However, from the national interests’ approach, in my view, this was not the right thing to do, and he should have personally taken the risk of doing so and finished the job. From a legal point of view, he was president and his signature was valid until August 3, 2021, and he had to fulfill his duty. 

In any case, despite the fact that Trump's relations with the European Union were strained, and there was an opportunity to separate Europe from the United States in relation to Iran, the relations between Iran and Europe were not managed and turned into confrontation, coldness and bitterness. Iran now has ample evidence of European disloyalty, especially with regard to the JCPOA, and Europeans blame Iran for some issues, especially in relation to the war in Ukraine. Undoubtedly, the Iranian nation cannot forget the losses it suffered from the Europeans in the difficult circumstances of the Corona outbreak. In this conflicting context, the ineffective and costly cooperation of Iran and Russia in the war in Ukraine may have been the strategic mistake of Iran's foreign policy in recent times. In any case, at a time when the European Union was at war with Russia, this low-weight partnership between Iran and Russia only entailed losses for Iran and did not benefit and mobilized the EU against Iran. 

In this bitter atmosphere of relations, Israel was the final winner by securitizing relations between Iran and the countries of the region. It was able to normalize its relations with a number of southern Persian Gulf states and enter into semi-secret negotiations with Saudi Arabia, which seems to have made great progress before Operation Al-Aqsa Storm. Now, it seems that at the end of the Biden term, the cessation of the war in Ukraine and the impossibility of victory of one over the other, the brutal acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing committed by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank, which affected the public conscience of the world and mobilized the world's including EU’s public opinion against it, and the events that took place in the International Criminal Court, Operation Al-Aqsa Storm and its consequences in the Islamic world, and the early elections in Iran have all presented new factors. All the factors affecting global politics in this region have been changed and a real re-reading has been provided. The important thing is to identify opportunities and use them in a timely manner.

Iran should welcome the EU's proposal to start a period of constructive and rapid negotiations on the development of relations, the revival of the JCPOA, the Ukraine issue, and regional security. In any case, it is unrealistic to think that we can exclude the world's major powers, including China, Russia, the European Union, and the United States, from regional security negotiations. This policy has failed in the past four decades and must be overcome. The big problem in this regard, apart from the impossibility of ignoring the interests of the global power poles in the region, is the definite and indispensable desire of the countries of the region to engage them in the security of the region. Moreover, what is the benefit of not participating in them? As a rule, when they are partners, they will support the agreements, and when they are not, they will sabotage them. The countries of the region have also welcomed the arrival of Mr. Pezeshkian. This kind of attention should also be made the most of it. It is time for Iran to at least take the lead in a non-aggression pact and, beyond that, the establishment of a regional security order in cooperation with the global power poles. As a rule, one of the goals of this order should be to confront the genocide and end the apartheid system in Israel and to support the political rights of the Palestinians throughout the land of Palestine, from the sea to the river, based on their national will.

By Abbas Akhoundi the former minister of roads and urban development of Iran