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A Chance to Restore American Dignity in Iran
(Wall Street Journal) Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh - The Islamic Republic's foreign minister, Hussein Amir-Abdollahian, revealed that Tehran had received word from the Biden administration, after the recent wave of protests in Iran had started, that it remains committed to reviving the nuclear deal. It isn't hard to imagine Western functionaries believing that the clerical oligarchs would now be prone to come to terms to refurbish their domestic appeal. All this misses the fundamental fact that Iran's theocrats, who claim to know the mind of God, pay little attention to public opinion. The Western approach to Iran is predicated on the assumption that the other side is pragmatic and can shelve ideological impulses for the sake of an agreement, and that the Iranian government is a responsible stakeholder and can be trusted with residual nuclear assets. Such assumptions have always been wrong. If the president were wise, he would throw his lot in with Iranian women. Aligning American policy behind the rebels at least gives the administration a chance at regime change. It also gives the White House a chance to restore American dignity. Mr. Gerecht is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.