Even worse, says a former State Department official, Tehran might push its luck too far—with catastrophic consequences. “Iran would have to be careful not to overplay its hand,” says this expert, who worked closely with the Iraq Study Group, the 2006 commission led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker and Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton. “And if they overplay it, frankly, Obama would use the military instrument, and it won’t be a pinpoint attack. It will be a massive one.”
