U.S. Pressure on Iran Is Curbing the Mullahs’ Ability to Shed Blood
The way to moderate Tehran’s behavior does not involve “strengthening the moderates.”
March 9, 2020
U.S. Pressure on Iran Is Curbing the Mullahs’ Ability to Shed Blood
The way to moderate Tehran’s behavior does not involve “strengthening the moderates.”
During the past 40 years, American experts and policymakers have claimed that the rulers of the Islamic Republic are divided between “moderates” and “hardliners,” and therefore that a conciliatory U.S. posture will strengthen the hand of the moderates while confrontation will only make the hardliners even more aggressive. This theory was used to justify the 2015 nuclear deal, and has likewise been cited by critics of Washington’s current policy of “maximum pressure.” But the nuclear deal was followed by years of brutal Iranian adventurism throughout the Middle East, while the present course, as Amir Taheri explains, seems to be bringing out the opposite result:
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