February 12, 2018
The Trump Team’s Blinkered Obsession With the Iran Deal Is Poisoning the Well
When seemingly spontaneous protests erupted in cities across Iran, beginning in the last days of 2017, the prospect of a new, uncertain, and even hopeful chapter in the country’s tortured history seemed possible. But in Washington, there was little indication of change or opportunity. Instead, the same old debate about the Iran nuclear agreement unfolded.
As thousands of Iranians took to the streets, critics immediately bellowed that the protests proved that the Iran deal was a failure because it had not improved the lives of ordinary Iranians, or claimed that it legitimized the regime and was the reason such unrest had not come about earlier, practically blaming former President Barack Obama for the Islamic Republic’s continued existence.
Indeed, for many opponents of the Iran deal, it has become the single explanation for every (allegedly bad) decision Obama made on Middle East policy over his entire presidency, ranging from his restrained approach to the Green Revolution protests in Tehran in 2009 to his reluctance to become more militarily engaged in Syria. Such airbrushed history distorts the debate — and does little to illuminate what the United States should do next on Iran.
Read the full article in Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
‘U.S. War on Iran Tactically Very Successful: Strategic Success Will Be ‘Elusive’, Warns Schneiderman
Video
Genie Godula welcomes Daniel Schneiderman, CNAS adjunct senior fellow and Director of Global Policy Programs at Penn Washington. He argues that while the US has achieved signi...
By Daniel Schneiderman
-
The Curse of Middle-Sized Wars
Commentary
This article was originally published in Foreign Affairs. In 1988, the military historian James Stokesbury observed that democracies are best at fighting either little wars, w...
By Robert D. Kaplan
-
Podcast
Middle East Security / Energy, Economics & Security
Will Trump’s Shipping Insurance Plan Work?CNAS adjunct senior fellow Rachel Ziemba joined NPR's Planet Money to discuss the traffic jam of shipping vessels outside the Strait of Hormuz, political risk insurance, and m...
By Rachel Ziemba
-
Podcast
Middle East Security / National Security Law
Is the U.S. Fighting a War Without Rules?Military rules of engagement exist to specify 'who' and 'what' can be attacked. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. is fighting Iran without "stupid" rules of eng...
By Mark Nevitt
