International Relations 101: Iran's Nuclear Program

Bargaining is supposed to leave both parties better off than if one side develops nuclear weapons. So why is Iran acting so intransigent?

This lecture looks into the role of war exhaustion. The United States has been bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan for almost a decade. Iran sees today as a window of opportunity to proliferate--and if they don't proliferate today, the United States will eventually leverage the threat of preventive war and stop proving concessions.

[Mehdi-iiux]

Thank you for your nice lectures. It is a while that I am following your videos, I have learnt a lot.

[Gametheory]

In the model in my paper, the U.S. has a high war cost early in the game that slowly decreases over time.

[scattershot]

You have an Interesting point about how the Bush Admin screwed up our chance at peace. I agree with you here. However, had we taken the deal in 2001, we might end up in the same boat as we were with Pakistan. Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces could have used Iran as a place to retreat to where we would do our best to respect their Sovereignty. If that deal were offered today, we would instantly take it but right now Iran is developing while we in the US are war weary.