It seems the US has forgotten what it wanted to achieve with Iran deal
Without a doubt, after one year of negotiations, the United States is making a big foreign policy mistake vis-à-vis Iran. De-listing the terrorist Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from the list of the US State Department Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) is nothing but a continued dishonor by Joe Biden administration’s failed foreign policy in Afghanistan and Ukraine.
It shows the US administration’s aim is not to prevent Iran of acquiring nuclear weapons, at any cost, but to reach a deal with a regime that is the world state-sponsor of terrorism, at any cost.
Members of Congress, in a bi-partisan way, also believe it is foolish to think that de-listing the IRGC can save any deal with Iran.
In recent years, the IRGC has supplied its proxies in the region with deadly drones, along with necessary training and supplies.
Most recently, the Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) released a report on the formation of naval proxy terror units by the IRGC, consisting of Yemeni, Lebanese, Iraqi, Syrian and other nationals who have engaged in attacks on ships and commercial vessels to wage terror in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and elsewhere.
It is important to realize that regardless of the outcome of the Vienna talks in 2022, the mullahs will never stop their bomb-making program, nor will they abandon their terrorism, or the production and launching of ballistic missiles and drones against other countries in the region. Indeed, on March 10, Khamenei insisted that he will not abandon the nuclear program even after the sanctions are lifted.
The mullahs want a nuclear deal only to secure financing to pay for repression and warmongering, while they complete their nuclear bomb-making program. The regime’s entire nuclear weapons program must be dismantled, period. There is no half-way solution for the Iranian regime’s threats.
There was sufficient evidence in 2019 to designate the IRGC as a FTO, however, the actions of this terror machine over the past three years have represented additional proof to maintain the FTO designation and increase accountability.
On March 13, the IRGC have taken responsibility for ballistic missile attacks in Iraq’s northern Kurdish regional capital of Erbil said it targeted the Israeli “strategic center” in the country.
Back in 2012, I remember Iran lobbies and apologists in the west criticizing the then State Secretary Hillary Clinton for de-listing the Iranian resistance group, MEK, from the FTO, arguing they had killed “six” Americans in the Shah era. They were grilling the MEK for what they had not committed!
But now the same people are insisting to de-list the IRGC terrorist group with countless merciless attacks on American civilians.
The IRGC is not only responsible for numerous attacks on American and allied forces throughout the Middle East, they also have been very responsible for the killings of thousands in Syria and Lebanon.
Therefore, Tehran’s insistence to de-list the IRGC to revive the JCPOA makes the new 2022 deal worse in many respects than the original one.
Instead of thinking which designations should be removed from the terror machines of the Iranian regime, including the IRGC and the Quds Force, the U.S. and western nations should look for ways to hold the regime responsible for its decades of ongoing repression, genocide, and terrorism. The regime’s leaders must face justice for four decades of crimes against humanity and genocide against the Iranian people and the people in the region.
After 43 years of a failed policy of “changing Iran’s behavior”, the United States should choose honor above shortsighted policies and stop giving concessions to a murderous regime and to stand on the side of the people of Iran.