Richard Fontaine

The biggest losers in everything that’s happened this year are the people of Iran,

• Mr. Fontaine said
  The New York Timesnytimes.com/2026/08…Aug 7, 16:20

The problem is that all the options — endure, escalate or agree — are unattractive in different ways,

• Richard Fontaine, the chief executive of the Center for a New American Security and a former aide to Senator John McCain, said on Wednesday
  The New York Timesnytimes.com/2026/07…Jul 8, 18:45

The narrower problem of ongoing Iranian enrichment was solvable through bombing, at least in the medium term,... The broader problem of the Islamic Republic is not.”

• Mr. Fontaine noted
  The New York Timesnytimes.com/2026/05…May 31, 20:34

Foreign policy tends to be a long and difficult enterprise,

• Richard Fontaine, a former top aide to Senator John McCain and now the chief executive of the Center for a New American Security, said in an interview over the weekend
  The New York Timesnytimes.com/2026/05…May 31, 20:34

A world where Iran is in control of that energy choke point — which it was not in control of before the war — I think is not a success for the United States, and should be unacceptable. That’s the situation as of today,

• Fontaine says
  Brisbane Timesbrisbanetimes.com.au/world/nor…Apr 9, 00:00

Iran remains in the control of the Strait, which was not the case before the war,

• said Richard Fontaine, the chief executive of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank
  The New York Timesnytimes.com/2026/04…Apr 8, 01:29