Publications

Although the popular uprisings that have swept across the Middle East since early 2011 have dominated the regional agenda and captured the media spotlight, the Iranian nuclear crisis has not disappeared from the scene. In fact, the problems that the international community currently faces in its efforts to stop Iran in the nuclear realm are a continuation of an almost decade-long process rife with false starts and setbacks. As such, the minimal movement in recent months in confronting Iran’s nuclear activities is best understood in the context of this ongoing dynamic, rather than as a side effect of the shift of international attention in recent months away from Iran toward the more dramatic regional developments. For its part, Iran is continuing on its path of nuclear defiance, and while it has experienced setbacks due to sanctions and sabotage, it has continued to build up its stockpile of enriched uranium while apparently working on military aspects of the program, and continues to inch its way to a nuclear weapons capability.