Welcome to Cato Daily Podcast. I'm your host Anastasia Glova.

It's a slow week in Washington as everyone celebrates the holidays and rings in the new year,

but for those of you listening this week, I'm featuring the best of Cato Daily Podcast. Each day until the new year

tune in for one of Cato's finest previously aired podcast commentaries.

As the prospects for preventive war with Iran loom ever larger, Cato Foreign Policy analyst Justin's For

for preventive war with Iran loom ever larger, Kato Foreign Policy analyst Justin Logan

urges us to step back and take a hard look at the consequences of such a war,

which could be disastrous.

In the bottom line on Iran, the costs and benefits of preventive war versus deterrence, a policy

analysis available today on our website, Justin lays out the case for why in Iran deterrence

is the better answer.

So Justin, what is the bottom line on Iran?

Well, this paper was really an attempt to look at the options that will be facing the United States

if whatever diplomatic approach

fails and I think unfortunately at this point there's a fairly good chance that the

diplomatic approach that we have now embarked upon via the Bush administration with Iran will fail.

So it's sort of an attempt to look at the ultimate question that will face us

is whether we should attempt to use military force to try to delay the Iranian nuclear program and

from looking at the cost and benefits both of trying to attack Iran in order to

delay its nuclear program or trying to cobble together a policy of

containment and deterrence in the region, the prospects of preventive war,

number one, achieving its goal, which is a meaningful delay in the Iranian nuclear

...