The Right Way to Squeeze Iran

James Sebenius, the Gordon Donaldson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, writes in The National Interest that the U.S. should offer a stronger batch of carrots and sticks when negotiating with Tehran. These carrots and sticks would come in the form of legislation pre-negotiated between Congress and the White House that would, on the one hand, offer phased, permanent sanctions relief if Iran complies with agreement, or, on the other hand, trigger swift implementation of harsh sanctions if no agreement is reached. “On balance,” Sebenius writes, “this approach offers the prospect of a president with every incentive to hang tough with Iran as well as the ability to offer inducements to that country in return for a more satisfactory nuclear deal.”