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Targeted Killings Won't End the Iranian Nuclear Program - But Could Make a Deal More Likely

(Washington Post) Max Boot - Iran's response to the killing in Baghdad of Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Quds Force, was limited to a dozen missiles fired against two U.S. bases that killed no U.S. personnel (although they did cause a number of brain injuries). Soleimani's death made headlines but changed little. The same is likely to be true of Fakhrizadeh's death, despite Tehran's vows of revenge. An earlier round of killings of Iranian nuclear scientists - four dead and one wounded between 2010 and 2012 - helped make a diplomatic solution more, not less, likely. Michael Hayden, CIA director from 2006 to 2009, told Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman "that the death of those human beings had a great impact on their nuclear program." The killings hurt Iran in three ways: "the loss of the know-how in the dead men's minds; the significant delays in the program resulting from the need to beef up measures to prevent penetration by Western intelligence; and the abandonment of the program by experienced experts for fear that they would suffer a similar fate."
2020-11-30 00:00:00
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