CIAO DATE: 10/07
The National Interest
Revisiting Iran
Fareed Zakaria, Cliff Kupchan, Joel Rosenthal, Gideon Rose, Richard K. Betts, Ian Bremmer and Nikolas K. Gvosdev
Abstract
Revisiting Iran?
Chaired by Ian Bremmer and Fareed Zakaria, the Gramercy Round convenes over dinner in New York’s historic Gramercy Tavern. Its task is to consider pressing issues that have received insufficient attention from the established foreign policy community. The round meets to discuss questions with an eye to promoting realistic assessments and innovative approaches for American policy. The round met late last year to consider innovative approaches to Iran. The situation has changed since that meeting, so several of the round’s participants updated their thoughts for The National Interest.
Fareed Zakaria
An effective response to Iran’s nuclear challenge requires our policymakers to answer three interrelated questions. First, is Iran’s goal to achieve hegemony in the Persian Gulf and throughout the Middle East? Second, is that possibility sufficient cause for the United States to act, and to strike Iran militarily? And finally, should it be a guiding principle of U.S. foreign policy to militarily neuter countries inimical to our interests?
It makes a major difference if one concludes that Iran pursues nuclear weapons for a suicidal Götterdämmerung, in which Iran sacrifices its statehood to strike Israel and the United States. But if, despite the rhetoric, Iran is engaged in traditional statecraft (seeking hegemony and influence), it opens the door to a wider range of policies, among them containment, deterrence and negotiation.