"As Iran persists in its defiance of international pressure and continues to enrich uranium, and as the Bush Administration enters the final stages of its tenure, the difficulty of the international community in stopping Iran's nuclear progress has become increasingly apparent. Indeed, Iran has made good use of both its own strengths and the weaknesses of its rivals to further its nuclear aspirations, and has processed with little practical interference toward this goal. While the need for harsher sanctions and other diplomatic or economic options is still a refrain sung by the leading international actors, the possibility of a military option by the United States and/or Israel - while clearly a problematic option - has begun to appear int he headlines with increasing difficulty.The corollary to the debate on how to stop Iran before it obtains nuclear weapons is that Iran may in fact eventually obtain this capability. The five essays that comprise Israel and a Nuclear Iran: Implications for Arms Control, Deterrence, and Defense examine the principal challenges for Israel associated with Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons. The essays explore Iran's potential deployment of a nuclear capability; the implications of a nuclear empowered Iran with regard to arms control and non-proliferation efforts in the nuclear realm; the difficulty of fostering a stable Israel-Iran nuclear relationship; the critical role of missile defense; and a realistic defense of Israel's home front against the threat of a nuclear Iran. Written by INSS researchers and other experts, the essays bridge the analytical and the prescriptive, and include recommendations for Israel if it is confronted with the reality of a nuclear Iran. Challenging certain traditional positions, the authors consider what will be required of Israel and others should the international community fail in its efforts to stymie the rise of an Iran endowed with nuclear weapons capability." -- p. 4 of cover.
How Iran can attain its nuclear capability--and then use it / Ephraim Asculai -- Implications for arms control in the nuclear realm / Emily B. Landau -- An Israel-Iran balance of nuclear deterrence: seeds of instability / Yair Evron -- Missile defense and Israel's deterrence against a nuclear Iran / Uzi Rubin -- A nuclear defense policy for Israel, without shelters / David Klein.