Dr. Raymond Tanter
President Donald Trump is
expected to sign a sanctions bill soon aimed at punishing Moscow, Pyongyang,
and Tehran.
The bill targeting Iran
passed overwhelmingly by both Houses of Congress, including 98-2
in the Senate in June. While also including sanctions on North Korea and
Russia, it aims to punish Tehran for testing ballistic missiles and other
non-nuclear provocations.
On July 25, 2017, the House
passed H.R. 3364, titled, “Countering America’s Adversaries
through Sanctions Act.” It gives Congress power to block any effort by the
White House to weaken sanctions on Russia, offering a direct
challenge to
Trump’s authority. The vote was 419-3. Most prior presidents had authority to waive
sanctions at the stroke of a pen. That won’t be true for Trump.
Then, in the midst of the ongoing Department of
Justice investigation into Trump’s alleged campaign ties with Russian
officials, the Senate passed a comprehensive sanctions package. The measures were an amendment to, and ultimately overshadowed, the separate sanctions
legislation, Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act
of 2017 (S. 722). Under the bill, the
president has to alert Congress prior to making changes, and legislators have
30 days to block the president from implementing those revisions, i.e.,
“congressional review.” The president has yet to sign the bill into law.
The law targets Iran’sIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) and converges with a panel held on July
26 on the same topic in the U.S. Senate. The
sanctions target a new “axis of evil,” including Iran, Russia and North Korea.
Regarding sanctions against
Russia, Vladimir Putin orders groups
close to his approved oligarchs to hack American elections, assassinate
political opponents, and jail members of the press who write articles
unflattering to him. Iran, the main focus of this column, is known to assassinate dissidents, jail political opponents, and hold faux elections.
U.S. Senate Briefing
On July 26, 2017, an historic
briefing occurred in the Senate. The title: “Countering the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Regional Meddling, Domestic Suppression.”
During the briefing, panelist
Amb. (Ret.) Robert Joseph said President Trump referred to the Iran nuclear
deal as a “disaster.” In spring 2016, then-candidate Trump vowed to prevent
Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, saying, “My number one priority, my number
one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.”
Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis both stated Iran remains the major funder and chief sponsor
of international terrorism and the greatest threat to U.S. interests in the
Middle East; but we should stick with the agreement. Of course, both mensaid that
we must demand strict compliance by Tehran, but this is something the Obama
administration was fond of saying as well.
Panelist Michael Pregent,
with the Hudson Institute, said North Korea is the worst thing to happen to the
Iranian regime, because we’re looking at the nuclear deal with North Korea and
we are now seeing that they are a nuclear capable state that’s getting ready to
threaten the United States. Hence, Trump tasked the National Security Council
to review America’s policy toward Iran, in general, and the nuclear deal, in
particular.
The Way Forward
First, the Iran policy review being conducted by Trump’s National
Security Council should include regime change from within, which was ruled out
by the Obama administration, and Iran’s nuclear and missile programs should be
part of policy review.
In addition, as Joseph also
said, “Our policy should be to give hope and sustenance to the opposition
forces in Iran that support democracy, human rights, and a secular government,
focused not on repression and missiles and nuclear weapons, but on the needs
and the aspirations of the Iranian people.”
Second, because Trump called the
nuclear deal a “disaster,” the review should find ways to withdraw from the
accord, with minimum damage to other U.S. interests. Or at minimum, the review
should require imposition of stringent and anytime anyplace inspections of all
Iranian nuclear sites, especially those controlled by the secret organization
run by the military known by its Farsi acronym, SPND,
tasked with the weaponization of the program.
Third, Nor
Indeed, at an Aspen Security
Forum on July 20, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration was considering
regime change in Pyongyang.Likewise, we should consider regime change in Tehran
led by the opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
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