Pentagon’s Ex-Mideast Chief: We Might Need Nukes to Deter Iran
If Iran ultimately goes nuclear, the U.S. might have to move some of its own nuclear weapons into the Middle East to keep Tehran contained and deterred, according to the Pentagon’s recently departed chief of Mideast policy.
Colin Kahl, who left the Pentagon in December, argues in Foreign Affairs that bombing Iran should be a “last resort.” He wants to give sanctions and diplomacy time to convince Iran that a nuclear weapon isn’t worth the costs. If that doesn’t work, then the U.S. might need to consider drastic steps to keep Iran boxed in.
Because while Kahl thinks that all the troops and gear parked near Iran — including at least two aircraft carrier battle groups, Patriot missile batteries across the Gulf, and Aegis ballistic missile defense ships — should be sufficient to deter Iran, perhaps they should be “supplemented by a limited forward deployment of nuclear weapons and additional ballistic missile defense.” If so, that could mean that a miscalculation between the U.S. and Iran could escalate into a nuclear exchange.