The place to start these days on Iran is Robin Wright’s The Iran Primer. The many short pieces therein are an economical way of getting up to date, especially the pieces listed under “policy options.”
The bottom line is no surprise: there aren’t any really good options. Ken Pollack describes “containment” as the default U.S. policy mode, and Dov Zakheim thinks covert action might be better than an overt military attack against the nuclear program. Abbas Milani worries that war would kill the opposition Green Movement, which however is equivocal about the nuclear program.
No options look particularly good. No wonder Obama is sticking with diplomacy, at least for the moment. It’s cheap, and no one is objecting too strongly. Recent American overtures include welcoming Iran to a meeting on Afghanistan last month and declaring the Iranian Baloch group Jundullah a terrorist organization, see Laura Rozen’s U.S. designates Jundullah as terrorist group – Laura Rozen – POLITICO.com.
Trump wants to pull the plug. The Israelis don't. And the Iranians are demanding outcomes…
A year from now, we are likely to be remembering a highly effective military operation…
The devil is not only in the details, but in a highly uncertain future. This…
When the political window opens for Iceland or Ukraine, I hope the Balkan candidates will…
Even if the war were to end tomorrow, the impact would continue to ripple into…
The greater powers often excepted themselves from the rules-based order. Now it is in tatters.…