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Source: http://www.newsweek.com/id/171256
Talk Tough with Tehran
[Newsweek] Dennis Ross - Everywhere you look in the Middle East today, Iran is threatening U.S. interests and the political order. If the Iranians are throwing their weight around now, imagine what will happen if they go nuclear. Tehran clearly wants nukes for both defensive and offensive purposes. History shows that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's government responds to outside pressure, restricting its actions when it feels threatened and taking advantage when it judges it can. In 2003, for example, after the U.S. military made short work of the Iraqi Army - something Iran hadn't managed in eight years of war - Tehran quickly reached out to Washington, sending a proposal through the Swiss ambassador in Tehran that sought to allay U.S. concerns about Iran's weapons program and its support for Hizbullah and Hamas. By contrast, when the U.S. government released a National Intelligence Estimate a year ago concluding that Iran had suspended its weaponization program, President Ahmadinejad quickly crowed that confrontation had worked and the Americans had backed down.