PRE-EMPTING IRAN A MILITARY ASSESSMENT

Despite the various efforts of the international community to stall Iran's suspected nuclear-weapons programme - whether through economic sanctions, assassination or cyber-attack - the country has reportedly continued its progression towards a nuclearweapon capability. In this article, Kenneth S Brower evaluates the capacity of Israel, acting unilaterally, and of the US, either acting alone or at the head of a coalition, to reverse this progress through military strikes. The result of this assessment is to turn on its head the conventional wisdom that the US - but not Israel - would be successful in acting unilaterally against Iran.