Raising the stakes: The need for a more ambitious American policy towards Iran

Abstract:

In this paper the basic starting point is that the Obama administration did not really effectively 'extend its hand'. Although the President called for engagement, in reality he pursued relatively limited objectives and did not conceive a comprehensive long-term strategy for the management of the US-Iranian relationship. This was and is the problem of America’s Iran policy. Therefore, the Obama administration’s one-year record should not be cited as 'proof' that a balanced and well-designed diplomatic approach towards Iran would, in any case, be doomed to failure.

The central scope of the paper is, in fact, to underline that an authentically new and ambitious policy on the part of the United States is not only a vital necessity but could, in the long run, constitute the only viable option to reduce the dangers inherent in this 30 year-long impasse.