The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights

A panel discussion on foreign policy featuring Elan Journo and Michael Rubin. Recorded November 12, 2009.

The Iranian regime is reportedly within sprinting distance of acquiring nuclear weapons capability. Past attempts at negotiating with Iran have all failed, and the current UN-backed gambit may serve only to buy Iran more time to advance its illicit program. What would be the impact on the region and on American interests of a nuclear-armed regime in Tehran? What is the nature of the threat from Iran and its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah? What lessons can be learned from America’s response to Iranian belligerence—not only in recent years, but going back to the emergence of a militant Islamist regime in Tehran? What policy options are available to the United States for responding to Iran and its Islamist affiliates? In this panel discussion, Michael Rubin and Elan Journo consider the record of U.S. policy toward Iran (and its allied groups), and assess what the Obama administration is doing—and should do—to safeguard American national security in the face of this threat. Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute discusses the nature of the threat posed by Iran, and strategic policy options today. Elan Journo discusses the approach of U.S. policy toward Iran and the impact it has had both on the Iranian regime and American willingness to address the threat.