Today @ Noon ET: What if Iran Gets the Bomb?

The Biden administration, along with outside experts, assesses that Iran could build a nuclear weapon very quickly — if it chose to do so. Whether and under what conditions Iran would cross the line are unknown.  Equally unclear is how Tehran would integrate a nuclear weapons capability into its overall security strategy. What would Iran’s leaders believe nuclear weapons would do for them? And how would they wield them? These uncertainties are compounded by unknowns regarding the reactions of regional states, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia, and powerful global players, including the United States. At a moment when Iran and Israel have attacked each other’s territory with ballistic missiles, these questions are more than just thought exercises. And the implications go beyond the Middle East as states under the shadow of perceived aggressors contemplate building nuclear weapons themselves. Their calculations will be shaped by an Iranian decision to build a bomb — or not to build one — and the international response to it.

September 2024

5
12:00 PM ET
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Join us for a timely and important discussion with:

Steven Miller

Steven E. Miller is director of the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is editor or coeditor of more than two dozen books, including "Going Nuclear: Nuclear Proliferation and International Security in the 21st Century" (2010) and "Contending with Terrorism: Roots, Strategies, and Responses".

Ellen Laipson

Ellen Laipson is the director of the Master's in International Security degree program at the Center for Security Policy Studies in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. She joined Mason after a distinguished 25-year career in government — including as Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) from 1997-2002.

Barbara Slavin

Barbara Slavin is a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University. She previously founded and directed the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council. She is the author of "Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US and the Twisted Path to Confrontation".

Gary Samore

Gary Samore is the Crown Family Director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies & Professor of the Practice in Politics at Brandeis University. He previously served as President Obama's White House Coordinator for Arms Control & Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) & President Clinton's Senior Director for Non-proliferation & Export Controls.

Steven Simon (Moderator)

Steven Simon is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and a distinguished fellow and visiting professor at Dartmouth College. He served as the National Security Council senior director for counterterrorism in the Clinton White House and for the Middle East and North Africa in the Obama White House.

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