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How the Nuclear Deal Will Fund Iran's Imperialism
(Washington Post) Michael Gerson - Over the past few decades, Iran has pursued a highly effective, asymmetrical campaign to spread its influence and destabilize its enemies. Iranian operatives have set out to exploit local grievances and export their version of anti-American, anti-Semitic, revolutionary Islamism. Iran's first and best success was the creation of Lebanese Hizbullah. Through it, Iran changed the regional balance of power by positioning 100,000 rockets in Lebanon aimed at Israel. Tehran is responsible for the survival of Bashar al-Assad's murderous regime, propped up at key moments by Iranian money and Hizbullah ground forces. Iran has also gained effective control of Iraq's public institutions, since Shiite militias (many allied with Iran) seem to be the only effective fighting forces in the country other than the Islamic State and the Kurds. With the nuclear deal, Iran will have more money to purchase weapons from Russia to challenge U.S. military access to the Persian Gulf, and to purchase a great deal of regional chaos. While administration officials talk of pushing back against Iranian influence, "They have no answer to the subversive activities of Iran in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen," said Michael Doran of the Hudson Institute.