Diplomacy with Iran

To give us a better handle on the current situation with Iran, we spoke with Reza Marashi, Research Director for the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). Reza served in the U.S. Department of State for four years in the Office of Iranian Affairs, and his articles have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, and The National Interest. He is a contributor to CNN, NPR, and the BBC, among others. Here, he gives us his take on the latest developments in Iran and what they might mean for national security. Read more »

War is costly. If you have any doubts, take a look at our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan: over $1.3 trillion spent and more than 8,000 lives lost, for shaky security gains. And then there are the unintended consequences: loss of international credibility, regional instability, and more. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Iran debate, the potential consequences of war are often lost in the shuffle. Read more »

The Iraq War is the greatest strategic blunder in American history. It cost our nation $1 trillion, the lives of thousands of our finest warriors, and our international credibility. It made defeating al-Qaeda harder, stopping Iran more difficult, and global security more precarious. It was not, as some now say, simply the fault of bad intelligence. Our senior officials willfully and systematically misled the American people and our closest allies on the most crucial question any government faces: Must we go to war? Read more »