Deterring a Nuclear Iran: The Devil in the Details.

• Author: DeAtkine, Norvell B.
• Position: Essay

Deterring a Nuclear Iran: The Devil in the Details

By Kenneth Pollack, currently at the Brookings Institute

http://www.cfr.org/publication/22292/deterring_a_nuclear_iran.html

Reviewed by Norvell B. DeAtkine

Kenneth Pollack, famously credited with supporting the Iraqi policy of the George Bush administration with his book The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq published in September 2002, and later becoming a caustic critic, displays more caution in this article on living with a nuclear Iran.

Assuming the U.S. must accept a nuclear Iran, Pollack outlines requirements and strategies for Iran's containment. As a preface he depicts establishing "red lines" that would require an American military response: an Iranian deployment of its conventional forces or nuclear weapons beyond its borders, or transfer of nuclear weapons to a hostile third party. In the case of the latter contingency, he describes a "minimalist" response in which the U.S. would attack Iran if a terrorist group associated with Iran used nuclear weapons anywhere in the world. A "maximalist" response would require only the knowledge that Iran had transferred the nuclear weaponry to a hostile third party. He recognizes that the essential element of this strategy is our willingness to use the military option and Iran's conviction that we are serious.

In seeking to construct a barrier to further expansionism of Iran, Pollack depicts four salient tasks. Firstly, we should construct a series of treaty alliances with Iran's neighbors. He recognizes the...