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Rethinking Our Iran Strategy

[Los Angeles Times] Robin Wright and Robert Litwak - Three U.S. administrations did not exploit opportunities when Iran needed to reach out. The challenge now is to create a confluence of factors that will make Tehran again feel that a real deal with Washington is in its interest. Then engagement has a real shot. Under the current circumstances, it doesn't. Diplomacy centered primarily on Iran's nuclear program is unlikely to work. The regime as well as many protesters view pressure to end uranium enrichment - a process to provide fuel for peaceful nuclear energy that can be subverted to develop a nuclear weapon - as a challenge to Iran's sovereignty and a denial of its economic development. Under the current circumstances, the regime is more likely to engage in a process - largely to get the world off its back - that would not produce enduring substance or real resolution. Robin Wright has covered Iran since 1973. Robert Litwak is the former director for nonproliferation at the National Security Council. Both are at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
2009-09-14 08:00:00
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