The United States and its allies and partners must not only understand Iran’s regional strategy and influence but also develop a coherent strategy of their own with which to confront them. Considering the relative economic, political, and diplomatic power of the two sides, it is unacceptable for the United States and its allies to allow Iran even such progress as it has made in these realms.

Ongoing efforts to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons have failed, and the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran is fast approaching reality. What are the real diplomatic, strategic and military costs and challenges?

The United States will certainly debate the issue about whether the plot can be blamed on the Iranian government as a whole, or whether it can simply be dismissed as the desperate act of rogue elements among Iran’s competing power centers.

If there is one success story since 9/11, it has been the efforts to combat terror finance. If military action is sometimes akin to conducting surgery with an axe, efforts to dry up sources of funding are like wielding a scalpel.

The Iraq Effect is a thought-provoking but flawed study commissioned by the U.S. Air Force on the regional implications of the 2003 Iraq war. Trends discussed may be real, but their presence before Operation Iraqi Freedom suggests that they should not be attributed only to the war.

More than 30 years after the Islamic Revolution, Iran remains a black hole for American analysts. The unknowns regarding Iranian command, control, and capabilities represent an intelligence failure the likes of which make the Central intelligence Agency's 2002 false findings regarding Iraq weapons of mass destruction program look like small potatoes.

Please join AEI for a series of policy discussions on the Hill to mark the week of the State of the Union address. These discussions will frame the many challenges we face at home and abroad in 2012 while also offering solutions. Food will be provided at each of the events on the Hill, so please RSVP to guarantee your meal.  

Moammar Qaddafi's rule might be crumbling, but the colonel refuses to quit. On the evening of August 23, Qaddafi loyalists launched Scuds at the rebel-run town of Misrata. Western policymakers should not ignore them, for reasons that have less to do with Libya and far more with the Islamic Republic of Iran.