This book investigates the European involvement in managing the nuclear dispute with Iran, shedding new light on EU foreign policy-making. The author focuses on the peculiar format through which the EU managed Iran¿s nuclear issue: a ¿lead group¿ consisting of France, Germany and the UK and the High Representative for EU foreign policy (E3/EU). The experience of the E3/EU lends credibility to the claim that lead groups give EU foreign policy direction and substance. The E3/EU set up a negotiating framework that worked as a de-escalating tool, a catalyst for Security Council unity and a forum for crisis management. They inflicted pain on Iran by adopting a comprehensive sanctions regime, but did so only having secured US commitment to a diplomatic solution. Once the deal was reached, they defended it vigorously. The E3/EU may have been supporting actors, but their achievements were real. 

1.  Introduction.-  2. The Theory: Lead groups and EU foreign policy-making.- 3.   The History: The 2003-16 Iran nuclear crisis.- 4. The Bargain: How the E3/EU came about.- 5. The Discourse: Why the E3/EU endured.- 6.   The Premise: The underneath continuity in the E3/EU Iran policy.- 7. The Action, 1: E3 leadership and EU ownership.- 8  The Action, 2: The E3/EU and the United States.- 9. The Outcome: The E3/EU as identity-shapers.- 10.  Conclusion.

Riccardo Alcaro is Research Coordinator and Head of the Global Actors Programme of the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Italy. He has been a visiting fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe of the Brookings Institution. Riccardo holds a PhD from the University of Tuebingen.