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Iran's Elections Won't Change the Need for a U.S. Counter to Its Aggressions
(Washington Post) Editorial - The voting in Iran showed, like most Iranian elections, that a large part of the public supports a liberalization of the regime. But as in the past, that popular sentiment is unlikely to bring about substantial change in the near future - in part because many of those elected are far less reform-minded than those who voted for them. Claims of a reformist triumph are overblown. Most of those in Rouhani's coalition are, like him, moderate conservatives, meaning they favor economic reforms and greater Western investment, but not liberalization of the political system or a moderation of Iran's aspiration to become the hegemon of the Middle East. Iran can be expected to continue the course it has been pursuing in the months since the nuclear deal was struck: waging proxy wars against the U.S. and its allies around the Middle East, using its unfrozen reserves to buy weapons, and defying non-nuclear limits - such as by testing long-range missiles. The elections won't make the regime more pliable, and they won't change the need for a U.S. counter to its aggressions.