Five Days in December: The Iran Crisis 25 Years Hence

Heisbourg discusses the three basic options that will enable to eliminate Iran's nuclear capability. One of the options is to conduct as soon as possible a set of air strikes against Iran in order to eliminate the short-term ability of the Islamic Republic to acquire nuclear weapons. The force planners were charged with fleshing out proposed timelines and target sets. Politically, this option was to be reviewed in several modes: as a purely American operation, with Israel being told to keep out, as during the 1991 Gulf War; as a joint US-Israeli operation; or as a broader coalition enterprise with trusted partners, notably Britain and France, whose contribution was valued notably because of their status as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.