“…the United States will have to forge a common approach among its
European and Middle Eastern allies, one that simultaneously deters Iran,
punishes aggression and dangles rewards for peaceful behavior.”
Washington Post Editorial 5 December 2021

Can Iran be deterred?

Can the world afford to somehow ostensibly prepare to punish Iranian
aggression rather than thwart it in the first place?

Can Iran be “bought off” by offers of rewards for peaceful behavior?

Not if Bernard Lewis was right.

“mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so well during the
Cold War, would have no meaning. At the end of time, there will be general
destruction anyway. What will matter will be the final destination of the
dead — hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers. For people with
this mindset, MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement.”
Bernard Lewis – The Wall Street Journal Aug. 8, 2006

If Lewis was right that Iranian Twelvers could actually welcome an
apocalypse set into motion by an Iranian nuclear strike and the response
that would follow then anything less than the defeat of Iran is
insufficient.

________________________________________
IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis

Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations

Website: www.imra.org.il

For free regular subscription:
Subscribe at no charge: imra-subscribe@imra.org.il
Unsubscribe: imra-unsubscribe@imra.org.il

For free daily digest subscription:
Subscribe at no charge: imra-subscribe-digest@imra.org.il
Unsubscribe: imra-unsubscribe@imra.org.il

IMRA is now also on Twitter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR