Getting up to date on Iran

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.