CEO for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Mark Dubowitz says the Biden administration is in a position where it can either leverage maximum pressure on the Iranian regime to potentially “crack” the regime or continue with an appeasement strategy, lifting sanctions that will provide an economic lifeline to the Islamic Republic and prolong the suffering of the Iranian people.
“We need to understand that the Islamic Republic is ideologically bankrupt. It’s economically bankrupt, and the majority of Iranians despise it, so we are in a position as the United States where with the right amount of pressure, economic, financial, covert action, support for Iranian democrats, and the like, we have a very good opportunity to crack the Islamic Republic,” said Dubowitz on The Foreign Desk with Lisa Daftari podcast Thursday.
“That should be our policy, and then we can decide whether we want to reach nuclear arms control agreements with the regime,” Dubowitz continued, emphasizing that it is crucial to not be “obsessively focused on a deal” like the JCPOA while overlooking the importance of “good Iran policy” as a whole.
Dubowitz believes the U.S. must continue to impose a “maximum pressure campaign” on the regime to provide Iranians “who believe in freedom the opportunity to live a better life, more prosperous and more free.”
The sanctions placed on the regime during the Donald Trump presidency have had severe effects on the Iranian population, according to Dubowitz, however, he says as someone who grew up in South Africa during Apartheid and witnessed the response of local populations to economic sanctions, he understands that oftentimes these sanctions are accepted as necessary by those who wish to see a corrupt regime crumble.
The U.S. must commit to ousting the Iranian regime rather than partaking in “decades of deals with the Islamic Republic and attempts at reconciliation,” which only prolong the suffering of the Iranian people who seek a free and democratic Iran, the majority of whom “blame the regime” and not the U.S. for the sanctions.
The current Biden administration policy towards Iran appears to be a repeat of what was seen in 2015 when “we had the Islamic Republic on their knees,” but “instead of putting them on their back, we again, we just flinched and we’re now reaching out and providing them that lifeline to get back on their feet so that the Islamic Republic can survive for another who knows how many years, and that’s just a huge opportunity lost,” says Dubowitz.
To view the full episode go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wujg0bZeDqc
