On 26th November 2011, foreign diplomatic delegations, from the African and European countries, going through a diplomatic educational training course, at the School of International Relations (SIR) of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies.

 A number of the Institutes' residents and research fellows visiting attended this informal meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, Prof. Kayhan Barzegar, the director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies, commented on the Institute's research related and educational activities, especially on that of the Visiting Research Fellows Program, as well as mentioning a few points about the political-security developments in the Middle East.

 Prof. Barzegar referred to the crisis in Syria and also touched upon the future of the nuclear talks between Iran and the West. He also mentioned a few points in regard to the Arab-Israeli peace talks in the wake of the recent developments in the Arab world.

 Concerning the crisis in Syria, he stated that the issue goes beyond the scope of the people's demands, relating to the current regional balance of power and the geopolitical interests of the regional and trans-regional actors, especially the United States. He further added that Iran and Turkey play the most significant role in solving this crisis About Iran's nuclear issue, he said that the only acceptable solution is to achieve a compromise on the issue and added that this should be achieved through adopting a win-win strategy.

The Director of the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies, further brought up the issue of Arab-Israeli peace process and maintained that given the recent development in the Arab world, as well as the increase in the role of the youth and the public, the future process of peace-talks has become more complicated. In fact, the demands of the Arab people will pressurize the Israeli regime to limit its demands.

 At the end of the meeting, Prof. Barzegar responded to a number of questions raised by those present in the meeting. In conclusion, the visiting delegation and the staff of the Institute exchanged views and took some pictures. 

Report: Fahimeh Ghorbani, Mahsa Nouraei