Mike
Pompeo Just Gave the Iran Speech Kerry Should Have Given
By Jonathan
Schanzer
New York Post
May 21, 2018
In
his first major speech as secretary of state a searing 20-minute stemwinder
Mike Pompeo on Monday laid
out the new US strategy toward Iran, following President Trump's decision to
withdraw from the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Pompeo
unveiled Washington's plan to deploy intense economic warfare against the
Islamic Republic until it halts a wide range of nuclear and non-nuclear
activity. But the speech was more than just that; it was the one Pompeo's
predecessor, John Kerry, should have delivered in 2013.
Kerry,
of course, was the nation's top diplomat when America announced its interim deal
with Iran that year. To reward the mullahs merely for coming to the table, he
said the United States would pay hundreds of billions of dollars in blackmail to
the Islamic Republic the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism
in exchange for a temporary and reversible halt to its nuclear activity.
Fast
forward two years, and Kerry bound America to a more permanent arrangement,
offering more than $150 billion in blackmail, while recklessly agreeing to
limits on Iran that would expire within a decade. Worse, Kerry failed to address
issues like missiles, terrorism and other malign activity that Iran carries out
to destabilize the Middle East. We were told it was the best deal we could get.
Pompeo
on Monday put an end to all that. He declared that his goal was to return to
"the global consensus" before the deal.
No
longer will the United States tolerate Iran's rogue behavior, which he detailed.
This includes Iran's quest for the bomb, but also the support Iran has been
providing to terrorist groups in Yemen (the Houthis), Syria and Iraq (Shi'ite
militias and Hezbollah) and the Gaza Strip (Hamas).
Pompeo
vowed to "crush" these proxies and declared that Iran would never get
a nuclear bomb. "Not now, not ever."
The
new secretary announced that the US Treasury would unleash "the strongest
sanctions in history," unless the regime in Tehran yields. If it doesn't,
Pompeo warned, the regime will "be battling to keep its economy
alive."
Good
for him. Fact is, this is the only kind of language and policy that could
get Iran to change course.
In
short, the objective is what it should've been in 2013 to put Iran's leaders
to a fundamental choice: Face a withering campaign of sanctions, led by the
United States and increasingly adopted by its allies, or engage in constructive
diplomacy that ultimately puts the Islamic Republic on a path toward peaceful
coexistence with the United States, the broader Middle East and the rest of the
world.
And
this is not based on a vague notion of peace. Pompeo delineated a dozen areas
where the Iranians need to fall in line. In exchange, he said, the Trump
administration would agree to the "re-establishment of full diplomatic and
commercial relations."
Critics
will rightly point out that the Iranians, reeling from Trump's decision, are not
likely to rush to the negotiating table. To save face, they need to find some
negotiating leverage. And that leverage traditionally comes from malign
activities, such as nuclear advances, missile tests or destabilizing the Middle
East.
But
the Iranians are now racing against the clock. Their currency, the rial, has
been in a free-fall since the president announced his withdrawal from the deal.
Inflation is through the roof.
True,
the Iranian economy was already tanking, thanks to mismanagement by the regime,
and this has sparked public protests in recent months.
But
Trump's sanctions have accelerated the decline, and it's now safe to say that
whatever economic improvement the 2015 nuclear deal may have yielded has
effectively vanished. In this way, even before sanctions are fully implemented,
the new policy is already making an impact.
Critics
also point out that we can't do this alone. The Europeans, in particular, are
still stinging from Trump's withdrawal from the deal. The Chinese and Russians
are also not pleased, given the time and effort they invested in it. All are now
considering plans to work around US restrictions on trade with Iran. And Pompeo
offered little to indicate that they will acquiesce.
But
never underestimate the fear that can be sown by American sanctions. Ours is
still the most important economy in the world. And as long as it is, the United
States is right to use that as leverage to get a meaningful deal with Iran.
Pompeo
made it clear that this is America's strategy. It's the strategy we always
should have pursued.