An Update from CUFI Action Fund
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In this week’s Action Update, we’re going to focus all our attention on Iran. Tehran is the leading state sponsor of terror. The regime is pursuing a nuclear weapon. But their people have long been disgusted with their leaders, and a war criminal now occupies the President’s chair in the Islamic Republic.

Attack on Israeli Ship

As you may have seen, an Israeli oil tanker was attacked off the coast of Oman by a suicide drone last week. Two innocent people, a Brit and a Romanian, were killed. The Israeli, American, and British governments have all made clear that they have every confidence Iran was behind the attack and the three nations are examining options for a response.

This attack, on a civilian vessel, comes as a shadow war between Iran and Israel rages. Last month, Iran’s largest warship caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Oman. The cause of the blaze is unknown. Likewise, a series of cyber attacks and other mysterious events – including a fire at an Iranian oil refinery - have occurred.

In most cases, conclusive evidence as to what caused these incidents is either unknown or not released to the public – but we don’t believe in coincidences. There appears to be a sophisticated and concerted effort underway to undermine Iran’s ability to spread destruction throughout the region and continue to develop a nuclear weapons capability. We don’t ever advocate for war, but if a shadow battle is taking place between the West and the tyrants of Tehran, we know whose side we’re on.

A Murderer Takes Office

This week, Ebrahim Raisi will take power as President of Iran. He’s a murderer, responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iranians who would dared to oppose the radical regime of the Islamic Republic. He’s a war criminal. He is pure evil. And now, under the ultimate command of Iran’s Supreme Leader, he is the leader of Iran.

On the one hand, this indicates that the above shadow war between the Israel and Iran will likely continue. Raisi doesn’t seek compromise with his opponents, he seeks to kill them. On the other hand, one should never forget that the specter of revolution in Iran is never far off. The young people of Iran, who’ve been recently protesting the diversion of water from the people to oil production, abhor the Islamic Republic and everything it stands for. They want to live free and happy lives. And not a day goes by where we couldn’t wake up to full scale revolution in the country. The only thing that has kept the regime in power is the very brutality Raisi embodies. We look forward to the day the people of Iran overthrow their leaders and install a representative government.

Iran Nuclear Deal on Life Support

If the gamblers in Las Vegas were placing bets on the Iran nuclear deal coming back into fruition they likely wouldn’t give the prospect of returning to the old deal very high odds. Despite the Biden administration seemingly wanting a deal at virtually any cost, even for the President their seem to be limits. Iran has continuously tried to extract more concessions from the US. Most recently, they want to avoid a situation where the next President of the United States, whomever they may be, cannot simply walk away from the deal as President Trump did. Iran thinks the answer lies in making the US subservient to the UN in this context, but that will never happen.

We believe that any agreement with Iran should have staying power. And the founders of our country foresaw the need for treaties to be stable, long term commitments. As such they offered a Constitutionally mandated method for achieving that goal: ratification by the US Senate.

That is the only way Iran will ever see sustained sanctions relief and economic improvement. But that will require significant bipartisan support in the US. As such, whether President Biden or President Raisi like it or not, the only path forward is a comprehensive deal that addresses Iran’s nuclear program, support for terror and human rights abuses. If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been saying it all along.

The Islamic Republic, if it is to have a future, needs a deal with world powers, in particular the US. Conversely, the US doesn’t need a deal with Tehran. The White House may want it, but they would do well to remember the distinction between “want” and “need.” If they do, they may just get the “longer and stronger” agreement they claim to seek.

Sincerely,