Daily Alert Archives

Iran Will Be Worse Off If It Triggers Mideast Nuclear Arms Race

(Foreign Policy) Dennis Ross interviewed by Benjamin Pauker - "If the Iranians get a nuclear weapon, they can cast a shadow of power where they couldn't before, and they can engage in greater leverage and coercion. There will be an impulse by their neighbors to counter that, and if they end up producing a Middle East with a number of countries that have nuclear weapons, they're certainly not going to be better off. In fact they're probably worse off." "The Iranians have to be put in a position where they have to understand that they cannot continue on the path they're on without paying a price....If they continue on this path, then the pressure is going to be ratcheted up and will be continued to be ratcheted up until we see them make a change in their behavior." "Look at the degree of Iranian isolation now, internationally or regionally, and the scope of what's happening in terms of sanctions on them right now, where they can't do business with a reputable bank internationally, they can't do business in dollars and euros, they can't get insurance for their ships. You have the Iranian president declaring a year ago when sanctions were being posed that the Iranians sneezed at the sanctions, completely belittling them, but now he describes them as the most severe economic onslaught that any country has experienced." On Palestinian policy: "The more [the Palestinians] pursue the UN route, the more they raise questions in the minds of mainstream Israel about their purposes....It alienates the mainstream in Israel; it convinces them that it's about delegitimizing Israel, not trying to coexist with it, so it ends up being self-defeating."
2012-01-23 00:00:00
Full Article