Dr S. Samuel C. Rajiv is Research Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Click here for detailed profile
Brigadier Feroz Hassan Khan (Retd) brings to bear the right credentialsto this six year effort under review. The career Pakistan Army officer andJohns Hopkins University graduate (1989–91), currently a faculty memberof the Naval Postgraduate School, Moneterey, California, spent the lastdecade of his 32 year service (he retired in 2001) dealing with nuclearissues in key positions.
The November 24, 2013 Joint Plan of Action between Iran and its P5+1 interlocutors is the first agreement since November 2004 that contains Iran’s acceptance of certain short-term limitations on its nuclear programme.
Prospects of a solution will hinge on the ability of the two sides to moderate their maximalist positions and the ability of the Obama administration to play the role of an ‘honest broker’.
After wining the elections, Hassan Rouhani has insisted that Iran is ‘ready to show more transparency’ over its nuclear programme, but has also affirmed that it has ‘inalienable rights’ to enrich uranium as a member of the NPT.
Even as the uncertainty over the alleged use of chemical weapons use in Syria deepens, the cautious US response to the situation has been conditioned by the lack of viable military options as well as its Iraq war experience.
The Patriot deployments signify Turkey’s attempt to secure itself and its allies against touted missile threats from the two countries with which it shares borders to the east – Syria and Iran.
The US pursuit of missile defence in order to counter and/or hedge against Iran's ballistic missile capabilities coupled with concerns generated by its nuclear programme has had significant strategic consequences. Iran on its part has pursued these capabilities as part of its asymmetric strategy to overcome its strategic vulnerabilities flowing from US encirclement, short-comings in force levels vis-a-vis neighbours and resource constraints in building effective conventional forces.
Israel-Palestine Talks: Enablers and Prospects
Prospects of a solution will hinge on the ability of the two sides to moderate their maximalist positions and the ability of the Obama administration to play the role of an ‘honest broker’.