Marc Lynch responds to Jeffrey Goldberg’s cover story on the likelihood of an Israeli

The Atlantic: Marc Lynch responds to Jeffrey Goldberg’s cover story on the likelihood of an Israeli

air strike on Iran. Lynch disagrees with Goldberg’s assertion that a failure for the Obama

administration to act militarily will result in an Israeli strike on Iran’s alleged nuclear

facilities. “Instead, I see an attempt on the part of Goldberg’s Israeli sources to prepare a policy

climate in which such an attack seems increasingly plausible and other options are foreclosed …”

writes Lynch. He concludes that both Israelis and people in the United States are aware of the

disastrous consequences of a military strike and are not nearly as fixated on the “never ending series

” of deadlines as Israeli and UK hawks would like to suggest.

The Wall Street Journal: Gerald F. Seib suggests that as the costs imposed by sanctions on Iran go up,

Tehran is looking for a face-saving “exit ramp” to give up its alleged nuclear weapons program. Seib

disagrees with hawks, such as John Bolton, that Russia’s assistance in fueling the Bushehr nuclear

power plant pushes Iran closer to having a nuclear weapons program. “By providing the fuel, and taking

away spent fuel, the Russians have undercut Iran’s argument that it has to do its own enrichment,”

said Seib. He continues, “Beyond calling Iran’s bluff, there’s a genuine need to find out whether

Iran’s leaders—at least some of them—might actually be interested in a way out.”