Navigating U.S.-Iran Policy
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi said Monday that President-elect Barack Obama’s plan to pressure Iran on its nuclear program and other issues will not work. “The carrot-and-stick policy has no benefit,” Qashqavi said at a press briefing. “It is unacceptable and failed.” (AP)
Qashqavi’s comments come after Obama discussed his ideas about U.S. policy toward Iran in an interview Sunday on NBC News’ Meet the Press. Obama said he would “ratchet up tough but direct diplomacy” with Iran, providing economic incentives if the country pledges to halt its nuclear program and cut off funding for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Experts from CFR and the Brookings Institution weigh in on this question in a new book, Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President. CFR Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies Ray Takeyh and Brookings Senior Fellow for Foreign Policy Suzanne Maloney call in one chapter of that report for a sweeping new U.S. policy toward Iran. “The new administration may be tempted to take the easy way out by offering merely new rhetoric and modest refinements to the carrot-and-stick approach that has failed its five predecessors,” they write. “This would be a mistake.”
Specifically, Takeyh and Maloney recommend “multitrack, delinked” negotiations with Iran on the nuclear issue, regional security, and the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries. They also say the Obama administration should appoint a special coordinator for Iran policy in the State Department.
To read Takeyh and Maloney’s other ideas for U.S.-Iran policy, click here.
For more on Obama’s plans for Iran, see this CFR.org Issue Tracker on the topic.
