But Who’s Geiger Counting?

To assess the Iran war, we can’t just ask whether we’re better off now than we were a couple months ago (which, as of now, we’re not). We have to ask whether we’re better off than we were when someone decided to tear up the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran. “In 2015, Iran and six nations led by the United States reached an accord that limited the purity of its enriched uranium to 3.67 percent and the size of its stockpile for 15 years … Iran lacked a single bomb’s worth of uranium in 2018, when Mr. Trump withdrew the United States from the pact and reimposed a series of tough economic sanctions.” NYT (Gift Article): How Iran Accumulated 11 Tons of Enriched Uranium.

+ That’s what we’re dealing with. Who we’re dealing with is just as complicated. “Since its creation in 1979, the Islamic Republic has revolved around a supreme leader with final authority on all key matters of state. But the ‌killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war, and the elevation of his wounded son, Mojtaba, have ushered in a different order dominated by commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and marked by the absence of ‌a decisive, authoritative referee.” Reuters: Iran’s Guards seize wartime power, blunting Supreme Leader’s role.