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Syria's Lessons for the Iran Nuclear Talks

(Foreign Policy) Michael Singh - The Obama administration has asserted that the chemical weapons deal with Syria was made possible only due to the credible threat of force. Thus the administration is now committed to the principle that credible threats of force facilitate diplomatic breakthroughs. The inspections regime for Syria will inevitably be seen as a test case for the value of transparency measures in addressing threats of weapons of mass destruction. Syrian misbehavior will not just sour Washington on the Syria deal, but should also make the Obama administration wary of the value of monitoring and verification as substitutes for farther-reaching limits on Iranian nuclear work. The U.S. must maintain and reinforce the pressure that has gotten it this far, lest its tactical gains give way to strategic failure. The writer, former senior director for Middle East affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, is managing director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2013-09-24 00:00:00
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