Iran: The Nuclear Challenge

Iran: The Nuclear Challenge maps the objectives, tools, and strategies for dealing with one of the most vexing issues facing the United States and global community today.

The book brings together leading experts — CFR’s Elliott Abrams, Robert D. Blackwill, Robert M. Danin, Richard A. Falkenrath, Matthew Kroenig, Meghan L. O’Sullivan, and Ray Takeyh — on the issues and contingencies surrounding Iran’s nuclear program, including sanctions, negotiations, U.S. and Israeli military options, regime change, and how to deal with a latent or actual Iranian nuclear weapons capability.

This volume presents one of the clearest pictures of Iran’s nuclear program to date, along with the various policy options available to the United States and others and their potential consequences.

"Iran: The Nuclear Challenge is perhaps the most comprehensive and nuanced analysis of how we should think about Iran's nuclear program. Assembling a cast of distinguished scholars and seasoned policy practitioners, this CFR volume examines the political, economic, and military strategies associated with the Iranian nuclear problem. Each author carefully fleshes out the contours and consequences of available U.S. policy choices, providing the reader a deep understanding of the Iranian nuclear dilemma. Iran: the Nuclear Challenge will undoubtedly enhance our debate on the most challenging security issue confronting the United States today."

--Stephen J. Hadley, former national security adviser

“Iran: The Nuclear Challenge unravels and isolates the choices available to the United States as it faces the possibility of Iranian nuclear weapons capabilities—an illuminating work even for those already well versed in the issues. The authors, all senior fellows at CFR, provide insightful personal analysis as well as the tools necessary to form one’s own judgments, affording a meaningful exercise in foreign policy decision-making. With the mission of informing readers not what to think, but how to think about Iran's nuclear activities and U.S. options, Iran: The Nuclear Challenge will remain of significant value to practitioners and students alike.”

--Samuel R. Berger, chair of Albright Stonebridge Group and former national security adviser