On June 6, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unveiled what it claimed was its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile, Fattah, adding to the largest arsenal of ballistic missiles in the region. According to Iranian
state media
, the hypersonic missile can travel up to 15 times the speed of sound and “bypass the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the United States and the Zionist regime, including Israel’s Iron Dome.” Whether or not Iran is exaggerating Fattah’s capabilities, one thing is for certain: The regime’s advancing ballistic missile program is just one example of how Iran has exploited the United States’ so-called pivot away from the Middle East.
The same day as the Fattah announcement, the Biden administration imposed new sanctions targeting networks that support the regime’s missile programs. These sanctions are
largely ineffective
in altering regime behavior, little more than a slap on the wrist. Indeed, confident that Biden has all but tuned out the Middle East, Iran has accelerated its unlawful
seizure
of oil tankers in Gulf waters, continues to
smuggle
weapons to Houthi rebels that fuel the war in Yemen, is preparing to
arm militants
in Syria for lethal attacks against U.S. troops, and has completely
absorbed
Iraq’s government via its political allies. Even Iran’s
reconciliation
with its Sunni Arab neighbors, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, should give the U.S. pause. When the Iranians decide to play nice, it usually means they have something not very nice up their sleeves.
More troubling still, Iran’s advances are not just being ignored by the Biden administration — they are being rewarded. Despite the regime’s recent efforts to
thwart
the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) ability to surveil its enrichment activities, Biden is still
obsessed
with reaching a new nuclear agreement. The administration is right now mooting a deal that would unfreeze billions of dollars, making it considerably easier for Iran to pursue its malign activities.
In the midst of Russia’s war with Ukraine and accelerating geostrategic competition with China, there is certainly a case to be made for greater U.S. attention to Europe and Asia. But that shouldn’t mean a wholesale abandonment of American values, American allies, American security, or the democratic ideals that have always justified U.S. engagement in the Middle East.
Pretending that Iran isn’t slowly dominating the region is a disaster in the making, an inadvertent consequence of Biden’s “pivot.” Because sooner or later, as Iran grows in power and influence, it might mean war in the Middle East. Again.
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This article originally appeared in the AEIdeas blog and is reprinted with kind permission from the American Enterprise Institute.
