Foreign Affairs Focus: Iran With Vali Nasr
An interview with the former Senior Adviser to the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Jonathan Tepperman, Managing Editor of Foreign Affairs, interviews author Vali Nasr, a professor of international Politics at Tufts University and former senior adviser to the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, about Iran, its relationship with the diplomatic community, and what the United States should do to get the country to the negotiation table.
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The Bush administration wants to contain Iran by rallying the support of Sunni Arab states and now sees Iran's containment as the heart of its Middle East policy: a way to stabilize Iraq, declaw Hezbollah, and restart the Arab-Israeli peace process. But the strategy is unsound and impractical, and it will probably further destabilize an already volatile region.
By toppling Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration has liberated and empowered Iraq's Shiite majority and has helped launch a broad Shiite revival that will upset the sectarian balance in Iraq and the Middle East for years to come. This development is rattling some Sunni Arab governments, but for Washington, it could be a chance to build bridges with the region's Shiites, especially in Iran.
