Iran wants impunity. That is why it is so important for the new US administration of Joe Biden to listen to concerns in the region and examine how best to prevent Iran’s recurring attacks.
By JPOST EDITORIALNow, when Israel looks out at the map, it has an alliance with two countries that face Iran directly across the Gulf(photo credit: FLICKR/MAGNUS HALSNES)
The US election has led Iran to believe that it might enjoy not only a relief from sanctions but also get to punish the US and weaken Western consensus on its aggressive behavior in the Middle East. It is essential that the incoming Biden administration, which naturally wants to reverse some of President Donald Trump’s policies, will keep up the pressure on the Islamic Republic.Iran’s narrative today is that US allies in the region should be in fear. Iran’s foreign minister has told countries in the Middle East not to trust US security ties and has urged them to rely on Iran. Meanwhile Tehran is rapidly increasing its drone and ballistic missile capabilities, dangerous weapons that can spread chaos across the region. Iran has already used drones to attack Saudi Arabia. It has armed Houthi rebels in Yemen and has mined ships in the Gulf of Oman. None of this is the behavior of a moderate and peaceful country, as Tehran’s propagandists attempt to portray the regime. Normal countries don’t mine ships illegally in international waters, or fire missiles and drones at another country.Iran has been systematically arming Hezbollah, illegally transferring weapons through Iraq and Syria, violating their sovereignty and Lebanon’s, feeding dangerous warehouses and factories across Lebanon that undermine civilian life and providing Hezbollah with weapons that are in violation of international legal norms. Iran’s behavior in this respect shows that it acts with impunity.While it is natural that the new US administration will want to review the sanctions and other actions of the Trump administration, it should also be natural for it to not send a message that US policy will flip-flop on key issues. One problem in the Middle East over the last decades is that countries believe that all they have to do is wait four or eight years and they will get a new foreign policy in Washington. They think they can start from scratch every time a new president is elected.President-elect Joe Biden has been familiar with Iran’s threats for decades. He knows well that Iran targeted US soldiers in Beirut in the 1980s and later in Iraq in the 2000s. Iran claims it is “resisting” the US, but it has continually attacked Americans and other civilians far beyond its borders.The Iranian nuclear program is only one aspect of Iran’s threat to Israel, US allies and the region. Tehran has long held up “war” as the only alternative to Western countries appeasing it. But calling Iran’s bluff has illustrated that the Islamic Republic cannot afford a conflict and does not want war.Iran wants impunity. That is why it is so important for the new US administration of Joe Biden to listen to concerns in the region and examine how best to prevent Iran’s recurring attacks on US service members and allies in Iraq, as well as preventing it from destabilizing Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and striking at Israel.The Biden team appears to be critical of some US policies, such as Washington’s support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. It is worthwhile for a new administration to look at that conflict and weigh how best Yemen might be stabilized. However, for that to happen, Iran also needs to leave Yemen and extremism needs to be reduced.Similarly, Iran’s support of Iraqi Shi’ite militias, such as the Badr Organization, has led to the suppression of protests. Iran’s role in Iraq is a stranglehold on the country’s economy and a threat to the Kurdish region in the North. In Syria, Iran presents a similar threat, moving weapons toward the Golan to strike at Israel and recruiting militias that terrorize regular civilians.A Biden administration should keep the aspects of the Trump administration’s Iran policy that have worked, and build on them, sending a message that Iran cannot get away with its crimes. That can go along with a change in rhetoric that provides a positive opening to the region, and offers support to moderates and those who believe in peace.Backing Israel’s peace deals with the Gulf is an example of the positive support the new US administration can give – that will help coexistence, fuel peace and deter Iran.
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