Iran: Maximum Pressure and Perfect Storms

Posted: October 29th, 2018

By Steven Ward

Steven R. Ward is a retired intelligence officer and former member of CIA’s senior analytic service who specializes in Iran and the surrounding region. A retired U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and graduate of the United State Military Academy at West Point, he currently is a contract historian for the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint History Office. Between 2010 and 2012, he was a CIA Visiting Professor to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. From 2005 to 2006 he served as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East on the National Intelligence Council, and he was a Director for Intelligence Programs on the National Security Council from 1998 to 1999.

Last spring, two weeks after the Trump Administration withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the international arms control deal that curbed Tehran’s nuclear program – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new approach to Iran that, he vowed, included history’s most ‘draconian’ sanctions. This renewed economic warfare and a long list of political and military preconditions for talks were soon labeled a “maximum pressure” strategy.

Steven Ward, Former Senior Analyst, CIA

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