Federica Mogherini, the EU’s chief diplomat, was front-and-center as European and American political leaders congratulated each other over a historic nuclear agreement with Iran.
But diplomatic sources said a corps of other women also played crucial roles in the long process of forging a deal, including Helga Schmid, Mogherini’s deputy; Wendy Sherman, a top U.S. State Department official; and Catherine Ashton, the previous EU foreign policy chief.
“Schmid has been a linchpin in these negotiations. It is Schmid who negotiated the agreement itself as well as the five annexes,” said a senior western diplomat. “Sherman coordinated the resolution of the Security Council, and played a major role in bilaterals between Iran and the U.S.”
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy — the office now held by Mogherini and before her by Ashton and Spaniard Javier Solana — was tapped by a U.N. resolution adopted in 2006 to act as a neutral facilitator between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group, which includes the U.S., U.K., France, China and Russia, plus Germany.
Key to Mogherini’s success in that role, according to aides, was an effort to maintain the good relations Ashton had already built with Iran.
“By chairing the meetings, by calling for plenaries with Iran, she managed to set the agenda and drive the process,” said Catherine Ray, a spokeswoman for Mogherini.
During the final days of the talks as the issue of sanctions threatened an agreement, Ray said, that included “putting oil in the wheels” of the deal and pushing the negotiators to come up with “something solid.”
On Tuesday, Mogherini acknowledged the final 18 days of negotiations needed to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment program in return for ending sanctions had “not been easy,” but she maintained the accord was “a good deal.”
Mogherini — a 42-year-old former Italian foreign minister who until assuming her EU post in November 2014 was little-known outside her native country — won praise for her role, and along with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was the one to announce the accord to the world on Tuesday.
President Barack Obama called Mogherini to congratulate her “and the EU’s work in the negotiations,” an EU official said.
But diplomats in Brussels also hastened to acknowledge Schmid’s work.
“She was the real negotiator, the key person in the negotiations alongside Sherman and Abbas Araghchi [Iran’s deputy foreign minister],” said an EU official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Schmid “had the technical knowledge, while Mogherini had more of a political one,” the official said.
No handshakes
Schmid and her team of seven or eight people, which include a Commission official from the Energy DG, worked to draft up what Nathalie Tocci, a special advisor to Mogherini and director of the Italian think tank Istituto Affari Internazionali, called “technical bridging proposals.”
“The pen has been in the EU team’s hands,” Tocci said.
Schmid participated in all the U.S.-Iran bilateral talks, an EU official said. She was at the final meeting with Kerry and Sherman in Lausanne, where “she spent the whole night texting Mogherini to inform her on how negotiations were advancing.”
The presence of such strong female diplomatic figures locked in talks with an Islamic theocracy added an unusual wrinkle to these negotiations. At every meeting, the Iranians “never” shook hands with Mogherini or the other women but bowed in greeting, a Western official said. But another senior Western official involved in the talks said the presence of so many women at the negotiating table with the Iranians was never a problem.
Unlike Mogherini, Schmid is an experienced diplomat who has played an instrumental role in several years of negotiations with Iran. She has been the the number-two in the EU High Representative’s office since 2010, and was previously a political advisor to Germany’s former Foreign Affairs Minister Joschka Fischer.
Schmid, an elegant 54-year-old diplomat who speaks impeccable French and English, studied humanities at Munich University and the Sorbonne in Paris. As a negotiator, she has a reputation for being both tough and empathetic.
“The negotiations were very tense in the beginning,” said a senior Western official who was involved in the negotiations with Iran for years. “The Iranians would only speak in Farsi, and the atmosphere was very formal. We tried hard to understand where the negotiators came from, the pressure they had, because it would not result in the same consequences for them as it would for us. Sometimes they were asking too much, but we were tough and we didn’t give in easily.”
Schmid is also widely considered to be the negotiator behind the interim accord Ashton was able to reach with Iran in 2013.
The Schmid and Sherman show
“Schmid represents the continuity between Ashton and Mogherini, and was a link in these negotiations,” said Stefano Stefanini, a former Italian ambassador to NATO and diplomatic advisor to former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. “I’m not sure how many advisors have dealt with Iran as much as she did.”
Stefanini described Schmid as a smart negotiator. “She is German in the sense that she is cautious, she thinks a lot about the issue, and knows where the red lines are,” he said.
The other key player in these negotiations was Sherman, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. She once served on the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board and worked as the State Department chief strategist on the negotiations involving the North Korean nuclear program. She has led the U.S. team on nuclear talks with Iran since 2011.
“Kerry relies on Sherman even more than Mogherini on Schmid,” Stefanini said.
Though Ashton did not participate in the most recent round of talks, the work she did during her tenure as EU foreign policy chief from 2009 to 2014 was seen as helping to ease negotiations with Iran during critical moments of tension with the West.
Ashton, who chaired the group of six countries for four years, played a crucial role in drafting the 2013 “Joint Plan of Action” that would freeze Iran’s nuclear program on a temporary basis. The plan was aimed at giving Iran and the P5+1 powers additional time to reach a permanent agreement.
After Mogherini was appointed chief diplomat of the European Union in August, she left the Iran dossier to Ashton, whom she appointed a special advisor in the nuclear talks with Iran.
“Another Iran deadline was coming out, and Mogherini kept Ashton as a matter of diplomatic continuity,” Stefanini said.
Many say Mogherini has worked hard to brush off criticism from diplomats who at first found her too young and inexperienced to deal with sensitive issues like nuclear proliferation. She is now hailed for her diligence and strong communication skills.
“She may not have the charisma Solana had,” Tocci said. “But she has a good political nose, she has a lot more visibility than Ashton, and she’s never ideological.”
Hours after the deal was reached on Tuesday, Mogherini posted a picture of her team — which included Schmid — on Facebook.
“We made it thanks to this team!” Mogherini wrote.