Taking on Iran Strength, Diplomacy, and the Iranian Threat

Abraham D. Sofaer argues that US policy toward Iran cannot safely be restricted to a strategy that considers only the two high-risk, costly, and potentially infeasible options of a preventive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities or containing a nuclear-armed Iran. Instead, the United States should respond forcefully to Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aggression, enhancing its credibility and increasing the likelihood that Iran will negotiate in earnest. The United States must also be prepared to engage Iran in a disciplined manner, avoiding disabling preconditions and adopting the negotiating practices used successfully by the United States when dealing with the Soviet Union during the 1980s.

Abraham D. Sofaer, who served as legal adviser to the US Department of State from 1985 to 1990, was appointed the first George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution in 1994. During his service as legal adviser, he was responsible for US/Iran negotiations at the Iran/US Tribunal in The Hague.