All Policy Analysis by Michael Singh

If President Obama stands fast on key requirements, both sides can get what they need most: relief from crushing sanctions, and a strategic shift in Tehran.

Syria's Bashar al-Assad may have thrown a wrench into Iranian President Hasan Rouhani's plans for nuclear negotiations with the West -- if the United States learns the right lessons from the Syria experience.

President Obama should use Moscow's gambit as an opportunity to turn international and domestic momentum back in his favor on Syria, even while recognizing it for the cynical feint that it assuredly is.

Reaching an agreement may require deep involvement not just in the Israeli-Palestinian talks, but in the conflicts, politics, and alliances of a region from which Washington has appeared keen to disengage of late.

The ultimate question that preparatory talks are designed to answer is whether both sides are serious about reaching an agreement.

International legitimacy and international aid are Washington's best sources of leverage for convincing the Egyptian military and its allies to act responsibly.

In the Summer 2013 issue of International Security, Washington Institute managing director Michael Singh participated in a debate regarding the future of nuclear talks with Iran. In the previous issue, he and Harvard professor James Sebenius had contributed the article "Is a Nuclear Deal with Iran Possible? An Analytical Framework,"

The election of Hassan Rouhani as Iran's next president has prompted two sorts of reactions among U.S. officials and Iran analysts. Some see in Rouhani's victory a reformist resurgence and are urging the Obama administration to reach out in an effort to "strengthen" him, much as the Clinton administration sought

Similar to other conflicts, diplomacy on Syria is as much, if not more, about what one does away from the table to develop leverage as it is about talks themselves.

Defeating Iranian designs in Syria would not halt Tehran's nuclear ambitions, but it could restore the credibility of American power and force Iran's leaders to reconsider the costs of their strategy.