Progressive Engagement: Constructing A New U.S. Policy Framework Towards Iran’s Nuclear Program

The Iranian nuclear program continues to be a challenge for the Obamaadministration and has led to a growing speculation that there might be a militaryattack in2012by Israel or the US, or both against Iran. The durability of this issue aswell as its perpetual urgency has generated a rich literature of official and unofficialpolicy studies, academic analyses, and high-level policy recommendations. Manyhave attempted to answer the same question that confronts U.S. policy makers everyday: what can be done about Iran? However, they generally neglect addressing afundamental question: Is Iran’s nuclear program definitely for military purposes? Byapplying theories on nuclear-proliferation and relevant data available, the studyexamines Iran’s incentives for nuclear development in an effort to answer the abovequestion. While recognizing that Iran’s security concerns and insecurity mindset isan important causal factor, the study goes further to test the validity of the country’seconomic justification for nuclear program development. After understanding Iran’spossible incentives for its nuclear program pursuit, the paper devotes to theevaluation of major U.S. policies towards the Iranian nuclear program. Amid thebackdrop of upcoming tougher sanctions in July2012by the United States and itsallies and a growing speculation that there is a possible Israeli attack against Iran, thestudy examines the myth of a military strike targeting Iran when it comes to thesuccessful halting of Iran’s nuclear program as well as the limitations of sanctions inchanging Iran’s behavior. The research goes further to explore the applicability of theU.S. diplomacy efforts in addressing the Iranian nuclear program. After anevaluation of the failure or ineffectiveness of diplomacy efforts made by the U.S.administrations including the Obama administration since1979, the study constructsa new policy framework called ‘Progressive Engagement’, considering it to be atargeting one for the U.S. to address Iran’s nuclear program. It defines ProgressiveEngagement as a gradual, verifiable, and reciprocating approach that recognizesIran’s right to develop a civilian nuclear program while gradually removing itsmotivations for going nuclear.