A 'Nixon To China' Moment With Iran?

A 'Nixon To China' Moment With Iran?

Richard H. Solomon

http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/12/a-nixon-to-china-moment-with-iran.html#.UuVJ54QE44Y.email

The Nixon administration's 1972 strategic breakthrough to normalizing relations with China — after two decades of hostile confrontation — transformed the dynamics of the Cold War and stabilized East Asia to America's benefit, at least for a time. The current negotiations with Iran designed to eliminate its nuclear weapons capability seem to lack a broader strategic objective: stabilizing the Middle East with a regional balance of power. What does the Chinaexperience tell us about prospects for a strategic breakthrough with Iran?

Comparison of the two situations suggest it is unlikely that the current negotiations with Iran will stabilize a region increasingly polarized by strategic, religious and ethnic rivalries, with America's allies and partners fearful of Iran's long-term goal of a regional Shiite hegemony.