An Alternative to War with Iran Represents Latest Foreign Policy Success by the President

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Iran Adversaries Said to Step Up Covert Actions,” correctly portrayed the latest assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist as a potential alternative to war against Iran.

The covert actions currently being undertaken by the United States and Israel include assassinations, bombings, cyberattacks and defections, and they are having a devastating effect. The latest incident, the assassination of a supervisor at the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Plant, was carried out with the same modus operandi as the other assassinations: a motorcycle draws up to the car, attaches a magnetic bomb to the outer surface, then speeds away.

In other incidents, just three months ago, a bomb exploded at an Iranian missile plant, wreaking intensive damage and killing an Iranian general at the same time. And the famous Stuxnet computer worm put about a fifth of the Iranian centrifuges out of action.

The one nice thing about these events is that the Iranians don’t know who to retaliate against. Unlike war, which would draft swift international condemnations, sabotage does not evoke the same sort of nationalist outrage.

The hope is that these covert actions in combination with international sanctions will eventually make the Iranians realize that the cost of a nuclear weapon is just too great and not worth the effort.