(Strategic Assessment-Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv) Shmuel Even - Beginning in 2009, under the Netanyahu government, Israel devised a new strategy against the Iranian nuclear program that included: clandestine countermeasures to thwart the program (a strategy employed in the preceding years), an intensive diplomatic effort, and the presentation of a concrete military option. The new strategy's success was proven by the leverage it created to propel the international effort to stop the nuclear program, by intensifying sanctions to a level that brought Iran to the negotiating table. It is possible that Iranian fear of an Israeli attack was also a factor. At the same time, this strategy has not yet brought the desired results. The road to a solution of the Iranian nuclear project is still in its initial phases. It appears that the U.S. did not fully take advantage of the means of pressure available to it and, at an early stage, it hastily released Iran from the Security Council demand for complete dismantling of its nuclear infrastructure. The writer is a senior research fellow at INSS.
2014-02-21 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive