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Calls to Reduce Pressure on Iran's Regime Are Reckless and Misguided

(Times of Israel) Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin and Ari Heistein - Emergency aid to the Iranian people should not weaken the U.S.-led "maximum pressure" campaign, the main line of defense against resurgent Iranian adventurism and malign activity. The malice and incompetence of the Islamic Republic has killed thousands of its citizens over the past year. In November 2019, 1,500 Iranians were murdered in the streets by the regime during protests. If the regime were desperate for an end to "maximum pressure," it could agree to the standard of non-proliferation adopted by the UAE, which allows its nuclear program to provide more energy than the Iranian program does now while minimizing the risk it will be used toward more insidious ends. Instead, Iran continues to creep toward the nuclear threshold in defiance of its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal. The belief that an "offer to send experts to help with technical assistance" would demonstrate "American generosity" and result in the release of U.S. citizens held hostage by Iran demonstrates a painful lack of awareness of the ideological anti-Americanism that defines the regime. Khamenei's worldview would lead him to suspect any U.S. offer is part of an American conspiracy. Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, former Chief of Israeli Military Intelligence, is executive director of Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, where Ari Heistein is a research fellow and chief of staff.
2020-04-08 00:00:00
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