PPI - Radically Pragmatic
  • Donate
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Locations
    • Careers
  • People
  • Projects
  • Our Work
  • Events
  • Donate

Our Work

Yes, We Can Contain Iran

  • March 16, 2012
  • The Progressive Policy Institute

In Foreign Policy, PPI President Will Marshall explains how President Obama is needlessly increasing the risks of a ruinous war by ruling out the possibility of deterring a nuclear Iran.

U.S. President Barack Obama, under pressure from Israel and American conservatives to take a harder line on Iran, keeps insisting that “all options are on the table.” That’s a diplomatic way of saying that the United States is willing to use force to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

To buttress this thinly veiled threat, however, Obama recently took one important option off the table: deterrence. In an interview with the Atlantic, he ruled out “containing” a nuclear Iran in the same way the United States has contained other unfriendly nuclear powers — by threatening the country with massive retaliation if it attacks us or our allies.

This is a significant — and needless — change in U.S. foreign policy. It raises the likelihood of war with Iran, despite Obama’s preference for a diplomatic solution. And launching air strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities would undercut America’s ability to play the long game in Iran by abetting a “Persian Spring” that could eventually topple the Islamic Republic.

Read the entire piece at Foreign Policy.

Related Work

Op-Ed  |  July 10, 2025

Ainsley and Mattinson for The Observer: Do our leaders really care about us? To keep us on side they must prove they do

  • Claire Ainsley Deborah Mattinson
Feature  |  July 7, 2025

Jacoby for Washington Monthly: Ukraine Infantry Adapts to More Menacing Drones

  • Tamar Jacoby
In the News  |  July 6, 2025

Jacoby on Background Briefing with Ian Masters: China Admits It Wants the Ukraine War to Drag on to Keep the US and NATO Out of Asia

  • Tamar Jacoby
Feature  |  June 25, 2025

Jacoby for Washington Monthly: At NATO Summit, Allies Avoid Tensions with Trump

  • Tamar Jacoby
Blog  |  June 24, 2025

Strikes Without Competent Diplomacy Risk Open-Ended Conflict in the Middle East

  • Peter Juul
Blog  |  June 17, 2025

Trump Courts Chaos With His Middle East Failures

  • Peter Juul
  • Never miss an update:

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
PPI Logo
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Donate
  • Careers
  • © 2025 Progressive Policy Institute. All Rights Reserved.
  • |
  • Privacy Policy
  • |
  • Privacy Settings