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{
  "authors": [
    "George Perkovich"
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    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
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  "regions": [
    "Middle East",
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    "Political Reform",
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Other

Iran Is Not an Island: A Strategy to Mobilize the Neighbors

To mobilize all of the international actors opposing Iranian nuclear development, the U.S. must recognize that Iranian proliferation, Persian Gulf security, the U.S. role in the Middle East, Israel’s nuclear status, and Palestinian-Israeli relations are all linked and cannot be resolved without a more balanced U.S. stance.

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By George Perkovich
Published on Feb 1, 2005

With luck, Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons could be delayed through a combination of Iranian technical difficulties, U.S. military action, and European diplomacy. However, neither delay nor regime change would remove the causes of proliferation pressures in Iran. Iran needs to be assured that the U.S. will respect its autonomy if it ceases nuclear weapons development, while Iran’s neighbors need to be reassured that Tehran will respect their interests. Arab governments are reluctant to join in a regional security dialogue in part because of Washington’s double standard regarding Israel’s nuclear arsenal and treatment of Palestinians. To mobilize all of the international actors opposing Iranian nuclear development, the U.S. must recognize that Iranian proliferation, Persian Gulf security, the U.S. role in the Middle East, Israel’s nuclear status, and Palestinian-Israeli relations are all linked and cannot be resolved without a more balanced U.S. stance.

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About the Author
George Perkovich is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is author of Dealing with Iran’s Nuclear Challenge (Carnegie Endowment, April 2003) and coauthor of Universal Compliance: A Strategy for Nuclear Security (Carnegie Endowment, June 2004) and WMD in Iraq: Evidence and Implications (Carnegie Endowment, January 2004). Perkovich’s history, India’s Nuclear Bomb (University of California Press, 2001) won the American Historical Association’s Herbert L. Feis award for outstanding work of history by a non-academic historian, and the A.K. Coomaraswamy award of the Association for Asian Studies for best book on South Asia.

About the Author

George Perkovich

Japan Chair for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, Senior Fellow

George Perkovich is the Japan Chair for a World Without Nuclear Weapons and a senior fellow in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Nuclear Policy Program. He works primarily on nuclear deterrence, nonproliferation, and disarmament issues, and is leading a study on nuclear signaling in the 21st century.

    Recent Work

  • Paper
    How to Assess Nuclear ‘Threats’ in the Twenty-First Century

      George Perkovich

  • Commentary
    “A House of Dynamite” Shows Why No Leader Should Have a Nuclear Trigger

      George Perkovich

George Perkovich
Japan Chair for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, Senior Fellow
George Perkovich
Political ReformForeign PolicyNuclear PolicyMiddle EastIranIsraelEgypt

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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