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Bribing the Iranian Regime Hasn't Worked
(Washington Post) Editorial - The experiment with appeasing the Islamic Republic of Iran didn't last long. The U.S. revoked an oil sanctions waiver on Tuesday after Iranian forces fired on three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The reality is that diplomacy was doomed from the start. The Iranian regime perceived the White House decision to end the fighting under political pressure and offer multibillion-dollar sanctions relief not as a sign of goodwill but proof of weakness. Apparently, direct discussions aren't enough to persuade the men who control Iran's military that it's in their interest to stop shooting at shipping vessels or executing political dissidents. As the White House weighs a post-ceasefire strategy, it sees that releasing tens of billions of dollars to a regime that won't honor its end of the bargain will embolden it to ask for more. The administration can ratchet up sanctions pressure, impose an embargo on Iranian oil, and take limited kinetic action when necessary. There will be pressure to go back to the tired playbook of bribing the regime into good behavior, but that hasn't worked recently and it won't work again.