US policy toward Iran and North Korea's nuclear program; a comparative approach

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Student of International Relations at Allameh Tabatabai University,

2 Author of Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, Allameh Tabatabai University

Abstract

Diplomacy, sanctions, and threats of force have been United States policy, in contrast to Iran's and North Korea's nuclear programs since the early 1990s. This study using a documentary based and comparative approach to examine these dimensions of US policy. Despite the differences between the two countries in pursuing a nuclear program, Iran is under greater pressure than North Korea. Based on the theory of neoclassical realism, selected options for Iran and North Korea are influenced by systemic factors and internal factors. In addition to the interests of world powers (China and Russia), the interests of US regional allies in Northeast and Southwest Asia are important factors influencing Washington's policy on Iran and North Korea's nuclear program. Domestic factors also play an important role in explaining US policy; North Korea is capable of targeting US soil, but US officials believe North Korea will attack in response to the US and allied offensive. Americans see the ideology of the Islamic Republic as an enemy, and they think nuclear development, Increases the likelihood of an Iranian nuclear bomb, That would threaten US interests in the region and even in the world. Another point is that the Arab and Israeli lobbies are working to influence Congress to oppose any engagement with Iran. As a consequence of systemic and internal factors, the pressure on Iran is increasing and it is being reduced against North Korea.

Keywords

References

- Ahn, Taehyung (2012). ‘Lethargy ?: U.S. Policy toward North Korea under the Obama Administration’, North Korean Review,Volume 8,Number 1,pp. 67–83.
- Albright, Madeleine (1997). ‘Nomination to be Secretary of State’,Senate Hearings, 103TH Congress,January 22.
- Aspin, Les (1993). ‘The Defense Department's New Nuclear Counterproliferation Initiative', Address To The National Academy Of Sciences, Washington, D.C., December7.
- Barnes, Joe; Barron, Robert (2018). ‘Trump Policy in the Middle East: Iran’, Issue Brief, Rice University’s Baker Institute for public policy, march, 23.
- Bayh, E. (2007). ‘Safeguarding the atom', Senate Hearing, 110TH Congress, July 31.
- Beal, Tim (2005). North Korea: The Struggle Against American Power.London: Pluto Press. First Published.
- Bergman, Ronen (2019). ‘The Secret History of the Push to Strike Iran', nytimes, Sept. 6.
- Berman, Ilan (2005). Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge To The United States, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
- Bermudez, J. (1999). ‘Exposing North Korea's Secret Nuclear Infrastructure—Part One', Jane's Intelligence Review, July.
- Blackwill, Robert D. (2019). ‘Trump’s Foreign Policies Are Better Than They Seem’, Council on Foreign Relations. Council Special Report No. 84.
- Bush, George W.(2007a).‘Remarks at the American Legion National Convention in Reno, Nevada', August 28. available at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/WCPD-2007-09-03/pdf/WCPD-2007-09-03-Pg1124-2.pdf
- Bush, GeorgeW. (2007b). ‘The President’s News Conference',October17.available at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/WCPD-2007-10-22/pdf/WCPD-2007-10-22-Pg1350.pdf
- Chanlett-Avery, Emma & Squassoni, Sharon (2006). ‘North Korea’s Nuclear Test', CRS, October24.
- Clawson, Patrick (2007). ‘Iran: weapons proliferation, terrorism, and democracy', Senate Hearings, 109th Congress, may 19.
- Clinton, Hillary (2009). ‘Nomination to be secretary of state', Senate Hearings, 111th congress, January 13.
- CNN (2018). ‘Republicans in Congress caution Trump against trusting North Korea', June12.
- CRS (2003). ‘Military Options and Issues for Congress', Report for Congress, Code RS21582, July 29.
- CRS (2012). ‘Israel: Possible Military Strike against Iran’s Nuclear Facilities', Report for Congress, R42443, Sept.28.
- CRS (2017). ‘The North Korean Nuclear Challenge: Military Options and Issues for Congress', R44994, November 6.
- Davenport, Kelsey (2018). ‘The Six-Party Talks at a Glance', june,available at: https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/6partytalks
- Economy, Elizabeth (2018). ‘Russia’s Role on North Korea: More Important than You Might Think', cfr, June7.
- Einhorn, Robert (2013). ‘Getting to ‘Yes’ with Iran,” Foreign Policy, July 10.
- Fayazmanesh, Sasan (2008). The United States and Iran: Sanctions, Wars and the Policy of Dual Containment, NYork: Routledge.
- Feffer, J. (2003). North Korea, South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis. New York: Seven Stories Press.
- Glaser, Bonnie (2008). ‘The North Korea Nuclear Crisis and U.S.—China Cooperation', CSI Studies, January.
- H. R. 5434(1992). ‘Iran-Iraq Arms Non-Proliferation Act of 1992'.
- Haass Richard N. (2019). In: ‘Trump’s Foreign Policies Are Better than They Seem', by, Robert D. Blackwill, Council on Foreign Relations. Council Special Report No. 84 pv
- Hayes, & Moon (2015).‘Korea: Will South Korea’s Non-Nuclear Strategy Defeat North Korea’s Nuclear Breakout?', in: Shultz&Goodby(Ed.), The war that must never be fought,Hoover Institution at Leland Stanford Junior University.
- Hersh, S. (2006). ‘The Iran Plans', Newyorker, April 17.
- Hilpert, Hanns & Meier, Oliver (2018). ‘Facets of the North Korea Conflict, Actors, Problems and Europe’s Interests', German Institute for International and Security Affairs, December12.
- Hyun, Kim (2017). ‘Comparing North Korea Policies of The Obama And Trump Administrations', volume 39: 69 - 45.
- Javadi Arjmand, Marzieh (2014). ‘The Role of Congress in U.S. Foreign Policy toward Iran:Analysis of Congressional Sanctions',Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs,Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 29.
- Joyner, D. (2005). ‘The Proliferation Security Initiative', Yale Journal of International Law, Volume 30, Issue 2, pp: 507 - 548.
- Katzman, Kenneth (2015). ‘Iran, Gulf Security, and U.S. Policy', CRS, May 19. available at: https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20150519_RL32048 _a2c8c61ae5b83fef288419afd0770b67ea11a5b0.pdf
- Katzman, Kenneth (2019). ‘Iran Sanctions', CRS, RS20871. Updated July 12, available at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS20871.pdf
- Kwon, Bo Ram(2016). ‘The Conditions for Sanctions Success:A Comparison of the Iranian and North Korean Cases',The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis,Vol. 28,No. 1,139–161.
- Leventhal, Paul & Dolley, Steven (1994). ‘The North Korean Nuclear Crisis', Global Survival 1994; Vol. 1, PP: 164 - 174.
- Litwak, Robert (2019). ‘Nuclear Crises with North Korea and Iran', Woodrow Wilson International Center, September.
- Mceachern, Patrick & Jaclyn (2018). North Korea, Iran, and the challenge to international order a comparative perspective, New York: Routledge, first published.
- Menendez, Bob (2013). ‘U.S. Policy toward north korea', Senate Hearings, 113th congress, March 7.
- Miller, Steven & Bunn, Matthew (2014). ‘Interpreting the Implacable Foe: American Perceptions of Iran', in: Maleki and Tirman (Ed.), U.S.-Iran misperceptions a dialogue, Bloomsbury Publishing, First published.
- NBC news (2019).Democrats say Trump is keeping Congress in the dark on North Korea', Feb. 22.
- Nikitin, Mary Beth et al (2017). ‘Nuclear Negotiations with North Korea: in brief', CRS, December 4.
- O’Driscoll, K. (2010). Bomb, Sanction, or Negotiate: Understanding U.S.Policy Towards NK, Georgetown University.
- Obama, Barack (2009). ‘Remarks in Prague, Czech Republic'. April 5. available at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-200900228/pdf/ DCPD-200900228.pdf
- Obama, Barack (2013). ‘Remarks to the United Nations General Assembly', September 24.
- Obama, Barack (2015). ‘Remarks by the President on the Iran Nuclear Deal', American University Washington, August 5. available at: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/08/05/remarks-president-iran-nuclear-deal
- Obama, Barak (2014). ‘State of the Union Address', January 28. available at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-2014-state-of-the-union-address-full-text/
- Pardo, Ramon (2018). ‘North Korea’s Denuclearization:Is There a Role for Europe?', March 26, available at: https://www.38north.org/2019/03/ rpachecopardo032619
- Parsi, Trita (2007). Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the US”.Yale University Press.
- Peck, Michael (2018). ‘This is America's Top-Secret Plan to Crush North Korea in a War Welcome to OPLAN5015', Nationalinterest, February 11.
- Perry, William (2018). ‘What Trump could learn from my attempts to denuclearize North Korea', washingtonpost, March 12.
- Pletka, D. (2006). ‘End Tehran’s Free Ride',Sept.7,available at: http://www.aei.org/publication/end-tehrans-free-ride/
- Poe, Ted (2015). ‘North korea: back on the state sponsor of terrorism list?', House of Representatives Hearing,114TH Congress, October 22.
- Pollack, K.(2004).The Persian Puzzle. The Conflict between Iran and America, NY: Random House Trade Paperbacks.
- Reardon, Robert (2012). Containing Iran: Strategies For Addressing The Iranian Nuclear Challenge", The Rand Corporation.
- Reuters (2018). ‘Saudi Arabia says backs U.S. decision to withdraw from Iran nuclear deal', May 8.
- Rice, Condoleezza (2005). ‘Nomination to be secretary of state', Senate Hearings, 109th congress, January 18 and 19.
- Riley-Smith, B. (2017). ‘Exclusive: US making plans for 'bloody nose’ military attack on North Korea', Telegraph, Dec20.
- Rose, G. (1998). ‘Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy', World Politics.
- Sanger, David (2000). ‘U.S. Ending a few of the sanctions imposed on Iran', New York Times, March 18.
- Sebenius, J. K. & Singh, K. (2012/13). ‘Is a Nuclear Deal with Iran Possible?',International Security,Vol. 37,No 3,52–91
- Simon, Steven (2018). ‘Iran and President Trump: What Is the Endgame? ', Survival: Global Politics and Strategy August–September, https://www.iiss.org/publications/survival/2018/survival-global-politics-and-strategy-augustseptember-2018/604-02-simon
- Sobelman, Daniel (2018). ‘Restraining an Ally: Israel, the United States,and Iran’s Nuclear Program,2011-2012',texas national security review:vol1,issue (august).
- Sokolsky & Miller, Aaron (2019).‘Saudi Arabia and Israel Are Pushing US to Confront Iran', carnegieendowment, May 21.
- Taliaferro, J. (2006). Neoclassical Realism: the psychhology of great power intervention. In J. Sterling Folker (Ed.), Making Sense of International Relations Theory. Boulder, Co: Lynne Rienner.
- The Iran Project (2012). ‘Weighing Benefits and Costs of Military Action against Iran', Wilsoncenter.
- The Newyork Times (2002). ‘Rumsfeld Says, if Necessary, U.S. Can Fight 2 Wars at Once,' December 23.
- The Newyork Times (2017). ‘Saudis Welcome Trump’s Rebuff of Obama’s Mideast Views', May 20.
- The Newyork Times (2019). ‘Israel’s Netanyahu Indicted on Charges of Fraud', Nov. 21.
- Theguardian (2017). ‘Donald Trump vows to answer North Korea nuclear threats with 'fire and fury', Aug.9
- U.S. Counterproliferation Policy (2005). ‘Meeting', Jan27, available at:https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/us-counterproliferation-policy
- United States (1997). (2002). (2006). (2015). (2017). ‘The national security strategy of the United States of America', available at:http://nssarchive.us
- US Department of State (1994). ‘Agreed framework ', October 21.
- US Department of State (2002). ‘Daily Press Briefing', December13.
- Whitehouse (2003). ‘Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer', February 7.
- Whitehouse (a) (2018). ‘Joint Statement', June 12.
- Whitehouse (b) (2018). ‘Fact Sheets', May 8.
- WikiLeaks (2008). ‘Saudi King Abdullah and Senior Princes on Saudi Policy toward Iraq', April 20, available at: https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08RIYADH649_a.html
- Wit, J.; Poneman, D.; Gallucci, R. (2004). ‘Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis', Brookings institution press.
- Wohlforth, W. (1993).The elusive balance: power and perceptions during the cold war, Ithaca, NY; Cornell University Press.
- Wright, Thomas (2020). ‘How Donald Trump thinks about Iran', brookings, January 7, 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/01/07/how-donald-trump-thinks-about-iran/
- Yilmaz, Serafettin (2015). ‘The Iranian nuclear dilemma: A Comparative analysis of Chinese and US strategy', International Journal of China Studies, January.
Security Horizons
Volume 13, Issue 46
Spring Quarterly
May 2020
Pages 28-63

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 15 December 2019
  • Revise Date: 21 February 2020
  • Accept Date: 14 April 2020
  • Publish Date: 20 April 2020

Share

How to cite

Statistics