February 26, 2007
Abbas Milani
"The mullahs’ attitude change began in late December, when the United Nations Security Council finally passed a resolution against the regime in Tehran."Advocates of an American invasion of Iran say that last month’s strengthening of the American armada in the Persian Gulf has frightened the Iranian regime. What diplomacy could not do for years, a few destroyers did in less than a month.
A second camp attacks the build-up of the armada as dangerous saber-rattling at best, and at worst as camouflage for already settled plans to attack Iran’s nuclear sites. According to this camp, what changed the minds of Iranian officials was only the United Nations resolution threatening economic sanctions, and the possibility of other resolutions and more serious sanctions.
Both camps are partly right and yet dangerously wrong.
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