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Roll Back Iranian Expansionism

(Wall Street Journal) Mark Dubowitz - The Islamic Republic of Iran is imperialist, repressive, and - unless we adopt a new strategy - on its way toward possessing nuclear weapons. The U.S. should go on the offensive against the Iranian regime to block the Islamic Republic's pathways to gaining nuclear-tipped missiles. Under the deeply flawed nuclear accord, Tehran does not need to cheat to reach threshold nuclear-weapons capabilities. Merely by waiting for key constraints to sunset, the regime can emerge over the next decade with an industrial-size enrichment program, near-zero breakout time, long-range ballistic missiles, and greater regional dominance. A new U.S. national security directive must systemically dismantle Iranian power country by country in the Middle East. Washington should demolish the Iranian regime's terrorist networks and influence operations, including their presence in Europe and the U.S., and work closely with allied Sunni governments against Iranian subversion of their societies. CIA Director Mike Pompeo is already putting the agency on an aggressive footing against these global networks with the development of a more muscular covert action program. Last but not least, the American pressure campaign should seek to undermine Iran's rulers by strengthening the pro-democracy forces that erupted in Iran in 2009, nearly toppling the regime. Target the regime's soft underbelly: its massive corruption and human-rights abuses. The writer is chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2017-07-06 00:00:00
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