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Israel's Iron Dome system is activated to intercept a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, above the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, on May 11, 2021. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
As Hamas continues launching Iranian-supplied rockets at Israeli civilians, the toxic alliance between the Islamic Republic and its terrorist militias is once again threatening regional peace and security. Meanwhile, American diplomats in Vienna are continuing negotiations that could offer the Islamic Republic billions of dollars in sanctions relief—funds that will nurture its proxy militias in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain.
In a new essay [[link removed]] for Tablet Magazine, Hudson’s Mike Doran [[link removed]] and the Foundation for Defense of Democracy's Tony Badran write that the Biden administration’s prevailing aim is not to curb Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but to enforce a broader "doctrine of realignment" that elevates Iran to a status quo power and diplomatic partner at the expense of America's traditional allies in the region. Can the Middle East's most destabilizing regime bring about the regional stability that the administration seeks to achieve?
See key takeaways from their essay below, catch the latest episode of Counterbalance [[link removed]] podcast for a discussion with the authors, and join us next week for a special conversation with former Secretary of State and Hudson Distinguished Fellow Michael R. Pompeo [[link removed]] to examine the implications of the conflict for the United States.
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Key Takeaways
Featured quotes from Mike Doran and Tony Badran's article in Tablet Magazine, " The Realignment [[link removed]]."
1. Biden's foreign policy team has embraced Obama-era goals in the Middle East:
The Biden administration [through a phone conversation between National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his Israeli counterpart], in other words, publicly asserted an American national interest in preventing the Sheikh Jarrah evictions, regardless of the dictates of Israeli law—just as Hamas was sending rockets and incendiary devices into Israel with the same message. This conscious effort to put “daylight” between the United States and Israel marked a clear return to the approach of President Barack Obama.
2. Lifting sanctions on Iran will strengthen the regime's partnerships with U.S. adversaries:
The [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] JCPOA ends all of the most damaging sanctions on Iran—nuclear and nonnuclear alike. Thanks to one of its early sunset clauses, the JCPOA already ended an international ban on conventional arms sales to Iran, thus offering Tehran avenues for expanding its defense cooperation with Russia and China.
As the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will grow richer from oil sales, its international partnerships will also grow stronger. The network of militias surrounding Israel and America’s Arab allies will expand, and their sting, delivered by precision-guided weaponry, will become more venomous. Compounded by the backing of powerful friends like Russia and China, the difficulty of containing Iran’s regional project will increase.
3. The four underlying goals of the administration's realignment doctrine:
First, allow Tehran an unfettered nuclear weapons program by 2031; second, end the sanctions on the Iranian economic and financial system; third, implement a policy of accommodation of Iran and its tentacles in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon; and fourth, force that policy on America’s closest allies.
If the United States follows those commandments, then a kind of natural regional balance will fall into place. The United States, so the thinking goes, will then finally remove itself from the war footing that traditional allies, with their anti-Iran agenda, have forced on it. Thereafter, diplomatic engagement with Iran will be the primary tool needed to maintain regional stability.
Quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
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Go Deeper
Read [[link removed]]
Biden Must Reverse Course on Iran — Before It's Too Late [[link removed]]
In an effort to revive the JCPOA, the Biden administration is proposing to lift economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for temporary commitments from Tehran to curb its nuclear program. Hudson's Japan Chair H.R. McMaster [[link removed]] and Sen. Bill Hagerty argue in RealClearPolitics that this misguided approach privileges trade interests over the urgent concerns of our allies, who are directly threatened by the Iranian regime.
Listen [[link removed]]
Counterbalance Ep. 11: Biden's Realignment in the Middle East [[link removed]]
Marshall Kosloff [[link removed]] talks to co-host Mike Doran [[link removed]] and regional expert Tony Badran about their new essay, "The Realignment," in Tablet Magazine. As they explore in the article and podcast, Biden's Middle East policy is following in the Obama administration’s footsteps by seeking a broad strategic accommodation with Iran, one that has dangerous implications for the United States and its allies.
Read [[link removed]]
Holding Iran Accountable: The Importance of Maintaining Sanctions Leverage [[link removed]]
U.S. sanctions have proven to be an effective tool to hold Iran accountable for terrorism and other bad behavior, writes Rob Greenway [[link removed]] in his policy memo. Despite the Islamic Republic's ongoing destabilizing actions, the Biden administration has revoked terrorist designations and reduced sanctions enforcement in the hopes of restoring the JCPOA. So long as Iran’s ministries, oil industry, and banks remain slush funds for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its terrorist militias, U.S. officials should enforce sanctions, not abandon them.
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