Center for Middle East Policy
Spotlight: Debating the Iran Nuclear Deal
Brookings experts examine what’s at stake—for the United States, Europe, Iran, and the Middle East more broadly—regarding the Iran nuclear deal, debate the agreement’s merits, and offer recommendations as to the deal’s future.
Suzanne Maloney
Deputy Director - Foreign Policy
Senior Fellow - Center for Middle East Policy, Energy Security and Climate Initiative
Natan Sachs
Director - Center for Middle East Policy
Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for Middle East Policy
The political point is that each side of this conflict has their own narrative about the status of the Gaza Strip and Israel’s role. The argument is not whether this is a border. The argument is whether Israel is occupying Gaza.
This back and forth — an Iranian attack on Israeli posts on the Golan and a widespread Israeli response against numerous Iranian targets in Syria — was not a one-off flare-up or a case of hot heads prevailing. This is part of a structural conflict unfolding between Israel and Iran in Syria.
For all of us who care about preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb, what’s the best way to keep preventing that? [The JCPOA is] not perfect, but it’s something. These conventions are never based on the premise that all the parties are telling the truth, it’s about enforcement mechanisms. No arms control agreement is based in trust.