Shultz Opposes Containment, Backs Diplomacy With Iran
Venerable US statesman and former secretary of state George Shultz has modest goals for Egypt and Syria, but urges a combination of bilateral diplomacy and more robust action short of war to deal with Iran.
Former US secretary of state George Shultz ruled out containment as an option for dealing with a nuclear Iran and suggested that the Obama administration should take a more muscular approach to what he called “aggressive” Iranian behavior in the Persian Gulf.
In a bravura appearance, the 92-year-old Shultz — whose government service includes two other Cabinet positions and advisory roles dating to the Eisenhower administration — told the Council on Foreign Relations Tuesday night that the risk of proliferation if Iran develops nuclear weapons is simply too great.
“Look what happens,” he warned. “You have fissile material lying around. You have other states getting nuclear weapons and the probability of a nuclear weapon going off somewhere rises [...] We’ve got to stop it. It’s gone too far already.”
At the same time, Shultz told Al-Monitor after the council session that bilateral messages can be sent quietly to Iran to facilitate agreement and end a stalemate in multilateral negotiations.
