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. 

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.

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.