“A last chance to stop Iran from going nuclear: To make sanctions work, start preparing for military”

Feb. 22, 2010

Washington, D.C. – In yesterday’s New York Daily News, General Charles Wald urged the United States to work with its allies to “increase leverage with Iran through tough sanctions and by articulating and establishing credible military options.” General Wald is the co-author, with former Senators Dan Coats and Charles Robb, of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) recently released report on Iran, “Meeting the Challenge: Time is Running Out.”

General Wald argues in the op-ed that the “U.S. needs to reassert leadership over Iranian policy, and soon. In particular, it must step up its efforts and substantially increase its leverage with Iran through all means necessary — diplomatic, economic and military.” Specifically, General Wald argues that “it is time for a credible military option to be put back on the table,” should other measures fail to “compel Tehran to terminate its nuclear program.”

General Wald concludes, “A peaceful resolution of the threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions would certainly be the best possible outcome of this crisis. But time is running out to address it, and our best chance of ensuring a peaceful resolution would be to intensify all means of pressure.”

The BPC report updates the original report, entitled “Meeting the Challenge: U.S. Policy Toward Iranian Nuclear Development,” released in September 2008 by an independent task force sponsored by the BPC’s National Security Project. Read the original report here.

Read the full editorial here. To read “Meeting the Challenge: Time is Running Out,” please visit our website.

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Iran Initiative, National Security Project