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U.S. Sanctions on Iran Deserve Britain's Support

(The Times-UK) Roger Boyes - Britain should support President Trump's imposition of sanctions on Iran instead of clutching the European idea that the flawed nuclear deal was a unique piece of statecraft that has to be saved at all cost. Pursuing the philosophy that was tried with communist states during the Cold War of change through trade merely places European signatories of the Iran deal on the same side as China and Russia at the expense of the wider interests of the Western alliance. In Iran, the Revolutionary Guard functions like the Mob, cynical, self-enriching, and anti-modern. Western sanctions policy has to take this mafia-state dimension into account. For sanctions to work, their chief purpose has to be clear: for restrictions to be lifted the regime has to give up its idea of building a Shia corridor to the Mediterranean and stop bankrolling proxy armies. Count on the pragmatism of those who want to stay in power and retain privilege. The Revolutionary Guard mobsters are not for the most part suicidal zealots. Changing Iran's behavior abroad will eventually create the conditions for regime change at home. The Guards, the corrupt heart of a clerical dictatorship, will end up at each other's throats.
2018-08-16 00:00:00
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