Which Path to Persia? : Options for a New American Strategy toward Iran

Brookings Institution Press 2009 220pp.


What do we do about Iran? The Islamic Republic presents a confounding series of challenges for the Obama administration. Over the past thirty years, Washington has produced an unimpressive track record of policies -- ranging from undeclared warfare to
unilateral concessions -- that have limited some Iranian mischief-making but have largely failed to convince Tehran to drop its support for terrorist groups, its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability, or its wider efforts to overturn the regional status quo.


Which Path to Persia? objectively presents the most important policy options available to the United States in crafting a new strategy toward Iran. It considers four different types of solutions: diplomacy, military, regime change, and containment. Among the diplomatic options are one approach that would employ "bigger carrots and bigger sticks" and a strategy of pure engagement that would abandon sanctions and focus on changing Iran's strategic perceptions. The various military options include a full-scale invasion, an air campaign to destroy Iran's nuclear program, and allowing an Israeli air strike against the same. Regime change could take the form of triggering a popular revolution, supporting an insurgency, or aiding a military coup. Last, containment would involve deterring Iran
from trying to wield a future nuclear arsenal while hindering its ability to cause trouble in the region.


As Iran moves forward with its nuclear program, the urgency increases for the United States to implement a new policy. This distinguished group of authors, all senior fellows with the Saban Center at Brookings, points out that no one strategy is ideal and that all involve heavy costs, significant risks, and potentially painful trade-offs. With an eye to these perils, they address how the different options could be combined to produce an
integrated strategy that makes the best choice from a bad lot.



ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Kenneth M. Pollack

Ken Pollack is an expert on national security, military affairs and the Persian Gulf. He was Director for Persian Gulf affairs at the National Security Council. He also spent seven years in the CIA as a Persian Gulf military analyst. He is the author of A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East.

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Daniel L. Byman

Daniel Byman focuses on counterterrorism and Middle East security. He is also a professor at Georgetown University's Security Studies Program.

Martin S. Indyk

Martin Indyk is acting vice president and director of Foreign Policy at Brookings. A former ambassador to Israel and assistant secretary of state for near east affairs during the Clinton administration, he currently focuses on the Clinton administration's diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Suzanne Maloney

Suzanne Maloney studies Iran, the political economy of the Persian Gulf and Middle East energy policy. A former U.S. State Department policy advisor, she has also counseled private companies on Middle East issues. Maloney recently published a book titled Iran's Long Reach: Iran as a Pivotal State in the Muslim World .

Michael E. O'Hanlon

Michael O'Hanlon specializes in U.S. national security policy. He is senior author of the Iraq Index. A former defense budget analyst who advised members of Congress on military spending, he specializes in Iraq, North Korea, homeland security, the use of military force and other defense issues.

Bruce Riedel

A former CIA officer, Bruce Riedel focuses on political transition, terrorism and conflict resolution. He was a senior advisor to three U.S. presidents on Middle East and South Asian issues. At the request of President Obama he chaired an interagency review of policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan for the White House that was completed in March 2009.

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