President Donald Trump is expected to sign a sanctions bill soon aimed at punishing Moscow, Pyongyang, and Tehran.
The bill targeting Iran passed overwhelmingly by both Houses of Congress, including 98-2 in the Senate in June. While also including sanctions on North Korea and Russia, it aims to punish Tehran for testing ballistic missiles and other non-nuclear provocations.
On July 25, 2017, the House passed H.R. 3364, titled, “Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act.” It gives Congress power to block any effort by the White House to weaken sanctions on Russia, offering a direct challenge to Trump’s authority. The vote was 419-3. Most prior presidents had authority to waive sanctions at the stroke of a pen. That won’t be true for Trump.
{mosads}Then, in the midst of the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into Trump’s alleged campaign ties with Russian officials, the Senate passed a comprehensive sanctions package. The measures were an amendment to, and ultimately overshadowed, the separate sanctions legislation, Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017 (S. 722). Under the bill, the president has to alert Congress prior to making changes, and legislators have 30 days to block the president from implementing those revisions, i.e., “congressional review.” The president has yet to sign the bill into law.
The law targets Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) and converges with a panel held on July 26 on the same topic in the U.S. Senate. The sanctions target a new “axis of evil,” including Iran, Russia and North Korea.
Regarding sanctions against Russia, Vladimir Putin orders groups close to his approved oligarchs to hack American elections, assassinate political opponents, and jail members of the press who write articles unflattering to him. Iran, the main focus of this column, is known to assassinate dissidents, jail political opponents, and hold faux elections.
U.S. Senate Briefing
On July 26, 2017, an historic briefing occurred in the Senate. The title: “Countering the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Regional Meddling, Domestic Suppression.”
During the briefing, panelist Amb. (Ret.) Robert Joseph said President Trump referred to the Iran nuclear deal as a “disaster.” In spring 2016, then-candidate Trump vowed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, saying, “My number one priority, my number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis both stated Iran remains the major funder and chief sponsor of international terrorism and the greatest threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East; but we should stick with the agreement. Of course, both men said that we must demand strict compliance by Tehran, but this is something the Obama administration was fond of saying as well.
Panelist Michael Pregent, with the Hudson Institute, said North Korea is the worst thing to happen to the Iranian regime, because we’re looking at the nuclear deal with North Korea and we are now seeing that they are a nuclear capable state that’s getting ready to threaten the United States. Hence, Trump tasked the National Security Council to review America’s policy toward Iran, in general, and the nuclear deal, in particular.
The Way Forward
First, the Iran policy review being conducted by Trump’s National Security Council should include regime change from within, which was ruled out by the Obama administration, and Iran’s nuclear and missile programs should be part of policy review.
In addition, as Joseph also said, “Our policy should be to give hope and sustenance to the opposition forces in Iran that support democracy, human rights, and a secular government, focused not on repression and missiles and nuclear weapons, but on the needs and the aspirations of the Iranian people.”
Second, because Trump called the nuclear deal a “disaster,” the review should find ways to withdraw from the accord, with minimum damage to other U.S. interests. Or at minimum, the review should require imposition of stringent and anytime anyplace inspections of all Iranian nuclear sites, especially those controlled by the secret organization run by the military known by its Farsi acronym, SPND, tasked with the weaponization of the program.
Third, North Korea has become a nuclear-armed state with a potential capability to strike American cities; in fewer than 10 years, Iran is likely to be in the same situation; so, the review should provide steps to keep Iran from becoming another Pyongyang.
Indeed, at an Aspen Security Forum on July 20, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration was considering regime change in Pyongyang.Likewise, we should consider regime change in Tehran led by the opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Dr. Raymond Tanter (@AmericanCHR) served as a senior member on the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush administration and is now Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.