This House believes that Iran poses the greatest threat to security in the region
Tuesday March 28 2006
MOTION REJECTED
by 36% to 64%
Speakers
Nazenin Ansari
Speaking for the motion
Nazenin Ansari is the Diplomatic Editor of Kayhan (London), a weekly Persian language newspaper first established in 1941 in Tehran. Kayhan (London) is considered the opinion maker for the Iranian secular and pro-democracy movement and its writers and contributors come from across the Iranian political spectrum, including monarchists, republicans, and IRI reformists. The editorial board sits in Paris and they have an office in London.
For the past five years Ms. Ansari has contributed on a regular basis to BBC World's Dateline London and BBC News24. She has also taken part in programmes on BBC Radio 4, including Woman's Hour and the Copysnatchers. In addition, she regularly provides news analysis in relation to Iran on CNN International and work as the Special London Correspondent for VOA Persian Service.
She is the Vice President of the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in London and has chaired the FPA Media Awards Committee for the past three years.
Ms. Ansari received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Vernon College (now part of George Washington University) in Public Affairs and Government in 1980, and Master of Arts degree from Georgetown University in International Relations and Comparative Politics (the Soviet Union and the Middle East) in 1983.
She has worked with and been a member of a number of Iranian educational foundations including Friends of Persian at Cambridge (University), Friends of Persian Language Society, Mihan Foundation, the Persia Educational Foundation, Iran Heritage Foundation and Magic of Persia. She is also a member of the Royal Institute for International Affairs, Chatham House in London.
Michael Axworthy
Speaking against the motion
Michael Axworthy is an Iran specialist who worked for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for 14 years. He worked in Malta and Germany before becoming the Head of the Iran Section at the Middle East Department, a post he held from 1998 to June 2000.
Mr. Axworthy became a Research Fellow of Durham University's Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies in December 2001. He has participated in a number of conferences on Iranian history and current affairs.
Since October 2005, he has been teaching Middle East History at the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Exeter University in the UK.
Mr. Axworthy has contributed articles on Iran and other subjects to Prospect Magazine, which has acquired a reputation as the most intelligent magazine of current affairs and cultural debate in Britain. He is the author of the soon to be published biography of the Persian monarch, Nader Shah.
Mustafa Alani
Speaking for the motion
Dr. Mustafa Alani is the Senior Advisor and Director of the Security and Terrorism Studies Department at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.
Before assuming his position at the GRC, Dr. Alani was a Fellow at the Middle East Security Program at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) in Whitehall, London, where he worked as a consultant on Middle East Security issues.
A citizen of both Iraq and the United Kingdom, Dr. Alani was educated at the Department of Politics at the University of Baghdad and later at the Department of International Relations at Keele University. He received his doctorate from the University of Exeter.
He is a frequent lecturer in his fields of interest on political and security developments in the Middle East region in general, with special focus on the security issues and political developments affecting the Gulf states (the GCC, Iraq, Iran and Yemen.) He contributes frequently to the international news agencies and leading newspapers in English and Arabic. His most recent contribution was an important article on NATO- Middle East relations published in December's issue of the NATO Review. He appears regularly as a commentator on the BBC, CNN Al-Arabia and other news services. Dr. Alani is the author of several books and essays on security and defense.
Sadegh Zibakalam
Speaking against the motion
Sadegh Zibakalam is a professor of political science at Tehran University.
During his student days he was a political activist, protesting against the Shah's rule. He spent several years in prison for his activities and was released a year before the Islamic Revolution which ended the Shah's reign.
In recent years he has been one of the key thinkers in the reform movement which brought former President Mohammed Khatemi to power.
Professor Zibakalam has written several books on Iran and the Islamic Revolution. He is a frequent contributor to Iran's reformist newspapers and appears on international news outlets including the BBC. He received his PhD from the School of Peace Studies at Bradford University in the UK.
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