UN nuclear inspectors want answers from Iran

>>> nuclear inspectors from united nations are in tehran, they are trying to determine if iran is making nuclear weapons or attempting.

>> a strike at this time would be destabilizing and wouldn't achieve their long term objectives, but i mean, i also understand that israel has national interests that are unique to them, and of course, they consider iran to be an existential threat in a way we have not concluded that iran is an existential threat.

>> i am joined by robin wright , fellow at the woodrow wilson center , author of rock the casbah. good morning.

>> good morning.

>> let me have you react to the chairman of the joint chiefs , general dempsey, and backed up by britain's foreign secretary. are they right?

>> there's a lot that can happen between now and military strike , that involves another round of diplomacy which both sides expect. the iranians just responded to european union and said they would like talks as soon as possible. we have a basic problem in how to deal with iran because the chinese and russians that both have a veto at the u.n. security council have opposed tougher sanctions, and that's made putting the squeeze on iran harder. so that involves another round of diplomacy to prove whether or not the iranians are serious about compromise with the world.

>> i had a talk with an israeli official friday who basically laughed at the idea of diplomacy moving the bar for iran at all, and you know, there are practical questions as "the new york times" puts it, if israel was going to mount an attack, they have to fly across more than a thousand miles across unfriendly air space , refuel in the air, fight off iran 's air defenses, attack multiple underground sites simultaneously. looking at at least four. do you think if it came to that, the u.s. would get involved?

>> well, the u.s. would be seen by many in iran as having given the yellow light or green light for some kind of strike. complicating factors are not just difficulties of striking iran 's facilities, it is the aftermath and what happens next, how does iran respond. are there dangers to u.s. troops in neighboring countries, u.s. interests in the arab world , the direction of the mideast at this pivotal juncture when going through tumultuous change. repercussions of military strike are still not fully calculated in the discussions of whether it's the cost benefit ratio in our favor.

>> that's the question. what would be the ripple effects. what's likely?

>> i think this is something that has the potential to make both iraq and afghanistan look comparatively simple. iran is a much more powerful nation in terms of its military, its connections. it has tentacles in many different communities in the region, and this also could help legitimize the regime in the whys of its people. nationalism is a strong factor when saddam invaded in 1980 , this rallied people around an unpopular revolution. the danger is that happens at a time when the majority of iranians are apathetic, uninterested or opposed to the regime.

>> robin wright , good to see you. thank you for coming in.

>> thank you.