(Foundation for Defense of Democracies) Jonathan Schanzer - Tehran has lied about its military nuclear program, and it never stopped supporting terrorism. Saudi Arabia, Israel, and other Middle East states are concerned that a bad deal with Iran could empower the chief threat in their region. It is their region. They have to live there. They are the ones who will suffer the consequences. They tried to warn America that the Iran deal would have a deleterious impact on their national security interests. And it has. Iran used sanctions relief to build militias and to send precision-guided missiles to its proxies. The regional actors are the ones who live within missile range of the Islamic Republic. They are the ones who pay the price when sanctions relief underwrites mayhem in the region. Despite what the critics say, maximum pressure on Iran has been working. The regime is reeling. The Arab states and Israel will not want to see the U.S. lift that pressure in exchange for a deal that does not permanently end Iran's nuclear and hegemonic ambitions. The writer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is senior vice president for research at FDD.
2020-12-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive