Daily Alert Archives

What Should Obama Do Next on Iran?

(New York Times) Nicholas Burns - I testified in favor of the Iran nuclear agreement before four congressional committees. But the deal's principal weakness is that it could permit Iran to emerge stronger 10 to 15 years from now as restrictions on its nuclear program begin to lapse. That is why President Obama needs to affirm what has been missing in the Iran debate: a comprehensive U.S. strategy to contain Iran's support for terrorism and to prevent it from becoming a nuclear weapons power. As with the Truman Doctrine, where the U.S. vowed not to let Greece and Turkey go Communist in the late 1940s, Mr. Obama should declare that he and his successors will not permit Iran to go nuclear. It is the right response to an assertive Iran and will recoup some of our diminished credibility in the region. Mr. Obama should not be content to have his veto sustained in Congress. His more important aim is to win the long-term struggle with Iran for power in the Middle East. To begin this effort, the administration should commit to a policy of coercive diplomacy - major steps to keep Iran on the defensive and push back against its growing power in the Middle East. The writer, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, is a former undersecretary of state.
2015-09-02 00:00:00
Full Article