Jamsheed K. Choksy

A preemptive attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities by the U.S., Israel, or both nations has been on the table for quite some time. Yet because Iran has at least a dozen centers related to its nuclear activities, demolishing the program would be extremely difficult. None the less, there is no dearth of war game scenarios by think tanks, universities, government departments, even magazines in the U.S. and Israel. Iran too has conducted its own large-scale defensive and offensive scenarios – including one last November involving actual military exercises. more»

Riccardo Redaelli

COMO, Italy—If proper “timing and tuning” are essential during negotiations, over the past decade, neither Washington nor Tehran has managed to tune their political mood into the same wavelength. When the Islamic Republic was ready to enter into negotiations, the White House was not, and vice-versa. more»

Hossein Askari

WASHINGTON—In Washington, politicians and Iran experts have been pounding the table for what they claim to be the mother of all sanctions on Iran—a gasoline embargo. While in Tehran, Ahmadinejad and his supporters dare President Obama to go ahead and impose a gasoline embargo on Iran. They claim Iran has adequate gasoline storage and enhanced gasoline production capacity to withstand an embargo. Is there substance to Iranian claims? Would a gasoline embargo bring the Tehran regime to its knees? more»

Edith Novy

After the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) adopted a resolution on November 27, which urges Iran “to comply fully and without delay with its obligations” (http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/
Board/ 2009/gov2009-82.pdf), Iran blatantly disregarded international opinion. Iran’s leaders not only failed to answer questions, it threatened to expand its nuclear program and to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). more»

Mahmood Monshipouri

SAN FRANCISCO – The latest technical proposals to emerge from meetings at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna to defuse the standoff over Iran’s nuclear project represent a clear and convincing victory for diplomacy over the cold war rhetoric that had seen Tehran denounced repeatedly by the Bush administration as part of an “axis of evil.” Under the emerging agreement—still to be ratified by Washington and Tehran and far from a done deal—Iran would ship low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia for further enrichment that would then be returned to Iran for use in medical research and treatment. This development occurred despite that fact that Iran is capable of producing the appropriate fuel on its own, and it speaks volumes about the reach and effectiveness of diplomacy. more»