October 30, 2012

In-depth

Why Iran Wants to Attack the United States

Writing in Foreign Policy, Matthew Levitt warns that while Tehran's attempts to thwart attacks on its nuclear program have so far largely been bumbling efforts, that might not remain the case. 

…by late 2009, Iran was increasingly interested in using Hezbollah to combat threats to its nascent nuclear program. The Islamic Republic was in need of an enforcer: Malfunctioning components had ruined Iranian centrifuges, IRGC officers had defected, and in January 2010 a bomb killed Iranian physics professor Masoud Ali Mohammadi outside his Tehran home.

Romney's Critique of Obama's Iran Policy

Despite what the two campaigns may claim, Obama and Romney are not dissimilar on the issue of Iran, writes Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic. 

They are both opposed to containment, they both support tough sanctions and they both hold out the option of military action should Iran continue down its current path.  It's been in the interest of Obama to paint Romney as a warmonger, and in the interest of Romney to paint Obama as an appeaser, but I think both of them are united in the idea that a military confrontation to stop Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold may be necessary.

Daily Digest

• Times of Israel: Likud overwhelmingly endorses PM’s deal for joint Knesset list with Yisrael Beytenu
• Haaretz: Turkey is not looking to reconcile with Israel
• Jerusalem Post: European NGOs: Ban settlement products
• Ynet: Stranded by Sandy: Israelis caught in the storm
• New York Times: The Jews of Cuyahoga County
• Washington Post: Saudi Arabia faces an existential dilemma as religious tourism flatlines
• Wall Street Journal: Stopping 'Predisposed' Terrorists

   

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