(Foundation for Defense of Democracies) Richard Goldberg - The new Iran nuclear deal would lift U.S. terrorism sanctions on the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, and leave Tehran's illicit nuclear infrastructure intact without first demanding a full accounting of Iran's secret nuclear work. Under the deal, Iran would get access to more than $100 billion, which it could spend on terrorism, missiles, and the pursuit of regional hegemony. Enforcement remains weak or non-existent, so there is no barrier to Iran's crossing the nuclear threshold at a time of its choosing. At the end of 2020, Iran was down to $4 billion in accessible foreign-exchange reserves thanks to the U.S. maximum-pressure campaign. The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency was on course to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for noncompliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty over Tehran's refusal to cooperate with an ongoing probe into concealed nuclear materials, sites, and activities. Then the new U.S. administration stopped enforcing sanctions, eased Iran's access to frozen funds, and halted pressure on Iran to declare its secret nuclear work. Iran responded by racing forward with its nuclear program and ordering its terror proxies to step up attacks against U.S. forces and allies in the Middle East. The writer is a senior adviser at FDD.
2022-03-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive