The dates were meaningless. Nobody is ever going to allow this regime to have a nuke. Once the time came around, either they'd renegotiate, or we'd do what we did this year, and bomb them to hell.
While probable, you could argue that this tactic became more difficult the longer we waited. Iran was arming themselves and their regional proxies for a long time and had we chosen to do this strike a decade ago, it likely would have been a quicker and less expensive similar, or even superior, result.
If we had waited another five years, it certainly wouldn't have gotten better.
Hindsight, and all that. But at the time, 1) nobody had the appetite for another war in the region, and 2) there was a genuine feeling that any positive integration between Iran and the West would bolster the pragmatists in the Iranian regime. It's easy to say now that 2) was wishful thinking at best, but remember this was also happening the context of the fear that Iran was very close to reaching their breakout moment, and it felt like the clock was ticking. So it was an imperfect deal, which included a big gamble that unfortunately didn't pay off.
This isn’t about Iran, it’s about Islam. Iran is a theocracy. Whether Islam uses a nuke is a different question from whether Iran will use one.
Welcome back. How is the golf game and retirement? Looks like we are getting the band back together.
The dates were meaningless. Nobody is ever going to allow this regime to have a nuke. Once the time came around, either they'd renegotiate, or we'd do what we did this year, and bomb them to hell.
While probable, you could argue that this tactic became more difficult the longer we waited. Iran was arming themselves and their regional proxies for a long time and had we chosen to do this strike a decade ago, it likely would have been a quicker and less expensive similar, or even superior, result.
If we had waited another five years, it certainly wouldn't have gotten better.
Hindsight, and all that. But at the time, 1) nobody had the appetite for another war in the region, and 2) there was a genuine feeling that any positive integration between Iran and the West would bolster the pragmatists in the Iranian regime. It's easy to say now that 2) was wishful thinking at best, but remember this was also happening the context of the fear that Iran was very close to reaching their breakout moment, and it felt like the clock was ticking. So it was an imperfect deal, which included a big gamble that unfortunately didn't pay off.
I'd also add oil disruption would have been a much much larger issue 10 years ago than it is now. The reality is the Middle East is slowly becoming less relevant on the global stage when it comes to energy production each year compared to 10, 20, 30 years ago.
Sales teams cause a lot of litigation
Because we use phrases like "signal for renegotiation"
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for. - Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and likely Hoosier basketball fan.
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