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There Must Be No Containment of Iran

(Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security) Col. (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman - The Biden administration and the British government are formally committed to ensuring that Iran will not become a nuclear power. Any notion of containing the impact of Iran obtaining the bomb or even settling for the status of a threshold state is delusional. The revolutionary Islamic Republic of Iran is not like isolated nuclear-armed North Korea, for whom the bomb is little more than an insurance policy for its survival. Tehran harbors regional and even global ambitions and is openly and ardently committed to the destruction of Israel. Possession of the bomb, or even threshold status, would signal regional dominance and the American failure to uphold its commitments to its allies. The inevitable outcome would be a boundless nuclear arms race, undoing all efforts to curb proliferation and sustain global stability. At the regional level, Iran's aggressive provocations would hereafter be made worse by the implicit threat of nuclear escalation. The Iranian regime is not a status quo power, for whom the bomb is essentially the means for remaining in power. On the contrary, it is a revolutionary power seeking to upend the established order in its image, which includes eliminating Israel and undoing any U.S. regional influence. Keeping Israel's options open, or even enhancing them, will ultimately prove to be of value to the U.S. American diplomat and historian George F. Kennan said: "You have no idea how much it contributes to the general politeness and pleasantness of diplomacy when you have a little quiet armed force in the background." JISS Vice President Eran Lerman held senior posts in IDF Military Intelligence for over 20 years.
2021-12-20 00:00:00
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