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Team Biden No Longer Sees Detente with Iran as Viable
(Wall Street Journal) Walter Russell Mead - Vice President Kamala Harris's decision that an earlier commitment to the Zeta Phi Beta sorority's convention in Indianapolis mattered more than a speech to a joint session of Congress by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of one of America's closest allies, is fueling rumors the Harris Middle East policy would differ significantly from Mr. Biden's. It may also encourage the Iranians, sensing weakness and division within the administration, to turn up the heat. Iran has never been closer to a nuclear weapon than it is today, and American officials worry that Vladimir Putin, as part of his anti-Western campaign, might help Iran across the nuclear finish line faster than U.S. or Israeli officials thought possible. Washington's patience is wearing thin. The closing months of the Biden administration could see U.S. forces engaged in direct attacks on Iranian naval vessels or against Iran itself. People in government, former officials and informed observers tell me that the pressure inside the U.S. government for military strikes against Iran is building, and further Houthi provocations are likely to prompt a dramatically stronger response. Team Biden no longer sees detente with Iran as viable. Iran's rejection of President Biden's offer to re-enter the nuclear deal was sobering. Iran's expansion of support for proxies and terrorists across the region hammered the message home. Iran wants a hostile relationship with both the U.S. and Israel. If Iran is irreconcilable, the only route to stability in the Middle East involves a partnership between Israel and conservative Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. needs to work with the regional players who agree with us on the basics. Key Arab states believe that their own economic and security interests depend on strategic alignment with both Israel and the U.S. Disrupting the U.S.-Arab-Israeli entente is Iran's objective and also is important to Russia and China. All the revisionist powers loathe the idea of a U.S.-led alliance system stabilizing the Middle East. The writer, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, is Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College.