Trita Parsi on Iran escalation after midterms

by Jolyon: Trita Parsi

The off-ramp keeps getting shorter. Trita Parsi, Quincy Institute EVP, posting as tritaparsi, makes the case that every round of this conflict strips away limits that held the round before, and the next round inherits a narrower set of ways out. His example from the last go-round: Washington would not sign off on Israel going after Iran's critical infrastructure, and that brake might not be there anymore. "A lot of the things... that thankfully didn't happen, are on the table in a much more realistic way." What worries him is the window after the midterm elections, when the U.S. and Israel could end up pointed at Iranian energy sites and other infrastructure together. Tehran, in that scenario, hits back far harder at Israel and at American positions around the Gulf, and a war that drags on leaves fewer exits than it started with.