Shadi Hamid

I’ve resisted the urge to comment much on the Iran negotiations, in part because I wanted to support a deal and, now that it’s been struck, I do – but with major reservations. I can’t help feeling that we’ve paid a tremendous cost for what can only be described as a narrow – if understandable – focus on the minutia of Iran’s nuclear program, including extremely technical questions about, for example, centrifuges. I’ve found it hard to relate to this sort of discussion, because I’ve never quite seen Iran’s nuclear capability as the issue.