6 | NOVEMBER 28 • 2019 

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commentary
Don’t Let a Staggering Iran Off the Hook
T

he foreign-policy 
establishment was 
nearly unanimous last 
year when President Donald 
Trump decided to pull out of 
the 2015 Iran 
nuclear deal 
and reimpose 
sanctions on 
Tehran. The 
so-called experts 
were all sure 
that it would 
never work. 
We were told that America 
couldn’
t isolate Iran on its own 
because Europe wouldn’
t let it 
happen. They also assured us 
that President Barack Obama 
had gotten the best possible 
bargain for the West, and that 
his attempt to bring Iran back 
into the community of nations 
and the global economy 
couldn’
t be reversed.
But they were wrong. The 
proof that the sneering con-
descension of the “adults” 
and other smart people about 
Trump’
s policy was misplaced 
is being illustrated on the 
streets of Iranian cities, where 
massive protests broke out 
Nov. 15. 
The demonstrators were 
opposing massive hikes in 
gas prices that ranged from 
50 percent to 300 percent for 
consumers. According to offi-
cial Iranian news reports, 100 
banks and 57 shops were set 
on fire, and two people were 
killed. The same government 
source said 1,000 protesters 
were arrested in what the 
country’
s leaders derided 
as efforts to destabilize the 
regime inspired by agents 
of the “Great Satan” of the 
United States. In order to stop 

the protests from spreading, 
the government shut down 
internet access throughout the 
country.
What’
s even more encourag-
ing for opponents of this rogue 
government is that these rallies 
were echoed in both Lebanon 
and Iraq, where people also 
took to the streets to show 
their frustration and anger 
with pro-Iranian regimes 
that misgovern both of those 
nations.
The question now facing 
the West is whether it will 
recognize the weakness of 
the theocratic regime or — as 
was the case in 2013, when 
international sanctions nearly 
brought Tehran to its knees 
— the United States will back 
down and allow the ayatol-
lahs to escape their dilemma 
with Western acquiescence 
and assistance? But as ironic 
as it may seem, that might be 
the route the Trump admin-
istration takes in the coming 
months.
Both enriched and empow-
ered by the terms of a pact 
that actually ensured that Iran 
would eventually get a nucle-
ar weapon, Tehran’
s fantastic 
quest for regional hegemony 

has become a realistic goal. In 
the wake of its diplomatic tri-
umph when Iranian bluffs led 
Obama to back down on virtu-
ally all his demands for an end 
to its nuclear program, Tehran 
vastly expanded its influence 
throughout the region.
But Trump and his team 
rightly understood that Iran’
s 
growing strength was more 
illusion than reality. Iran is the 
world’
s leading state sponsor 
of terrorism, yet its efforts 
to dominate the Middle East 
rests on a shaky foundation. 
Its Islamic Revolutionary 
Guard Corps orchestrates 
its foreign adventures and is 
seemingly unchecked by any 
domestic or foreign antag-
onist. Still, it depends on 
being able to milk the nation’
s 
economy in order to continue 
spreading mayhem.
That’
s why the sanctions 
that the U.S. reimposed have 
the ability to tilt the balance 
of power away from Tehran. 
When faced with the choice 
of doing business with Iran 
or a United States determined 
to enforce sanctions, Europe 
chose the latter, despite its 
misgivings. That choked 
off Iran’
s supply of foreign 

exchange; almost immediately, 
its terrorist henchmen in Syria 
and Lebanon began to feel the 
pinch. No amount of Iranian 
bluster or military provoca-
tions in the Gulf can cover up 
the fact that the theocrats are 
running out of money.
The ayatollahs think that 
further oppression is the only 
answer to a restive population 
that has had enough of their 
Islamist overlords. After 40 
years of a reactionary gov-
ernment dedicated to stifling 
expressions of support for 
freedom, the Iranian peo-
ple may indeed be ready for 
change.
This ought to be the 
moment when Trump further 
tightens the noose around the 
Iranian economy. Yet Trump is 
distracted by the Democrats’
 
impeachment effort and per-
haps more interested in with-
drawing from the Middle East 
than in exploiting a historic 
moment of Iranian weakness. 
He may be looking for an exit 
ramp from the confrontation, 
rather than seeking to contin-
ue to roll back the gains that 
Iran reaped from Obama.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike 
Pompeo announced American 
support for the Iranian pro-
tests — a stark contrast to 
Obama’
s obsequious silence 
during the 2009 mass protests 
against the regime that were 
crushed by brutal violence. 
However, Pompeo’
s statement 
was not accompanied by 
measures designed to increase 
pressure on the Iranian’
s pop-
ulation’
s oppressors or to aid 
their efforts by somehow pro-
viding internet access inside 
the country. Whether or not 

Jonathan 
Tobin
 
Protesters in the streets of Iran demonstrate against a massive hike 
in gas prices.

SOURCE: SCREENSHOT

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