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The Security Threat Iran Poses Is Real and Urgent

(Independent-UK) Dr. Majid Rafizadeh - The past year has seen European allies contort themselves in attempting to keep the Iran nuclear deal alive. Not only is that not possible, but it should no longer be attempted. The deal was fundamentally flawed from the start. The composition of the negotiating team completely excluded those on Iran's doorstep, with policy set by governments thousands of miles away, in an approach reminiscent of a bygone colonial era. The funding of violent proxies, in the form of Hizbullah, Hamas and the Houthis, was entirely overlooked in a way it never would have been had the Gulf states or Israel been at the table. In fact, the deal freed up extra funds which have flowed to these groups in ever greater volumes. The result has been a greater propensity for Houthi rocket launches at civilian targets in Saudi Arabia, the deployment of thousands of Hizbullah foot soldiers in Syria, and the constant bombardment of Israel by Iranian-funded Hamas rockets. The Strait of Hormuz, the world's busiest shipping corridor, now requires commercial shipping to be escorted by allied naval vessels. It's clear that since the deal's implementation, the national security interests of U.S. allies in the region have far from improved. The latest Iranian actions against shipping are the desperate acts of a nation whose funding sources for regional destabilization are drying up. The response to Iranian belligerence cannot simply be further appeasement. That route has been tried and that route has failed. The security threats Iran poses to both regional and international security are real and urgent. Attempting to revive the failed Iran deal is not the way to combat them. The writer is a political scientist at Harvard University.
2019-08-26 00:00:00
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