September 19, 2012

Talk to Iran's Leaders, But Look Beyond Them

Ray Takeyh, New York Times

AP Photo

For a long time, the major powers had hoped that imposing strenuous sanctions on Iran could produce an interlocutor willing to negotiate honestly and to adhere to an exacting arms control agreement. But time may no longer permit the patient exercise of coercive diplomacy. To temper Iran’s nuclear ambitions we may need not one strategy but two. The immediate challenge is to obtain an agreement that imposes some limits on Iran’s more disturbing proliferation activities. However, this cannot be the end of the story, but an interim step to provide time for a strategy that broadens Tehran’s ruling coalition and injects some moderate voices into its deliberations.

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TAGGED: Green Movement, Iran

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