Last Best Chance: U.S. Policy for an Israeli Strike on Iran
The U.S. military is concentrating major firepower around the Middle East, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday to discuss the shared challenge – and opportunity – of rolling back Tehran’s nuclear weapons program while the regime’s defenses are down. At the meeting, Trump announced his intent to conduct direct U.S.-Iran talks starting April 12, which could postpone—or permanently foreclose—crucial military action to prevent a nuclear Iran.
Amid these developments, JINSA is issuing a new report, Last Best Chance: U.S. Policy for an Israeli Strike on Iran, that provides a detailed strategy for the closest possible U.S.-Israeli cooperation to maximize the effectiveness of potential military action against Iran’s nuclear weapons program, limit the risks of a wider war from Iranian retaliation, and prevent the Tehran regime from resuming its drive toward the bomb following a strike.
JINSA hosted a panel discussion with the report’s authors, featuring JINSA Distinguished Scholar and former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Amb. Eric Edelman and JINSA Distinguished Fellow and former Deputy Commander of U.S. European Command Gen Charles “Chuck” Wald, USAF (ret.).
This discussion was moderated by JINSA President & CEO Michael Makovsky, PhD.
Amb. Eric Edelman Amb. Eric Edelman is a Distinguished Scholar at JINSA’s Gemunder Center for Defense & Strategy and the Co-Chair of its Iran Policy Project and Eastern Mediterranean Policy Project. Amb. Edelman served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House where he led organizations providing analysis, strategy, policy development, security services, trade advocacy, public outreach, citizen services and congressional relations. From August 2005 to January 2009, he served as the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. |
Gen Charles “Chuck” Wald, USAF (ret.) Gen Chuck Wald is a JINSA Distinguished Fellow and former Deputy Commander of U.S. European Command. With over 35 years as a USAF command pilot, Gen Wald has also served as the Director of Strategic Planning and Policy at USAF Headquarters, Chief of USAF Combat Terrorism Center, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations at the Pentagon. |
Michael Makovsky, PhD Michael Makovsky, PhD is President and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), which he joined in 2013. A U.S. national security expert, he has worked extensively on U.S. policy toward Iran’s nuclear program, Israel, and the broader Middle East, as well as the intersection of international energy markets and politics with U.S. national security. Makovsky has written articles, op-eds and editorials for various publications on U.S. national security issues primarily involving the Middle East as well as energy markets. He is also author of Churchill’s Promised Land (Yale University Press), a diplomatic-intellectual history of Winston Churchill’s complex relationship with Zionism. |