Peace with Iran (Commentary, Text and Context) (Reprint‪)‬

There seems to be a growing international consensus that the search for a "cold peace' with Iran is a desirable, even essential approach on the part of the international community. Indeed, successive "war games" at specialised institutions in the United States have shown that bombing Iran's nuclear installations is militarily unviable. Even some Israeli and American military officials have indicated the same. Many Iranian analysts continue to see in the stance of the United States and some of its allies a permanent, if often veiled, threat to the country. At the same time, from the American side the "military option" does not appear to be realistic. On one side, it is a strategic tool, part of the gunboat diplomacy that has characterised US foreign policy toward the Islamic Republic for quite some time. On the other, it is continuously emphasised in order to signal to Iran that worse things than sanctions could be in store. At this stage, the war option is a rhetorical means to an end: getting concessions from Iran on the nuclear issue.