Rightly condemning Iran’s repression of its own people, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo correctly terminated a sanctions waiver for Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility.
The announcement follows Iran’s recent announcement of recommenced uranium enrichment activities at Fordow. Following steady Iranian actions towards a nuclear breakout, the United States is rightly underlining its unwillingness to allow Iran to reach a nuclear weapon.
That’s no small or distant concern.
Iran’s nuclear threat was further emphasized last week when the independent International Atomic Energy Agency reported finding uranium particles at a site Iran had not declared as nuclear-related. That represents an overt Iranian breach of its commitments under the 2015 nuclear accord, and deliberate deception in pursuit of covert nuclear activities. On Monday, the IAEA reported that Iran had breached its stockpile limits in terms of heavy water.
But while it is right that the U.S. match Iranian escalations with new sanctions such as these, which will obstruct foreign companies from working with Iran’s nuclear program, we should be cautious.
It is regrettable, for example, that Pompeo continues to adopt a zero-sum approach to Iran’s nuclear program.
Pompeo’s observation on Monday that “the right amount of uranium enrichment for the world’s top sponsor of terrorism is zero,” might sound good, but that approach would prevent any new agreement to replace the 2015 nuclear accord. That’s because Iran’s leaders view a minimal amount of uranium enrichment, albeit at monitored levels, as an absolute requirement for any future deal. That enrichment level, though not a threat to the U.S., allows more moderate Iranian officials around President Hassan Rouhani to claim prestige and save face against hardliner claims of submission to America. We can and should be willing to live with it as part of a new deal that addresses Iran’s ballistic missile threats.
Similarly, Pompeo’s Monday assertion that “the only viable way forward is through comprehensive negotiations that address the full range of Iran’s threats,” is in overt conflict with President Trump’s more nuanced interest in negotiating a specific nuclear deal. Pompeo’s demand that Iran relinquishes terrorism in return for a new deal is an obvious non-starter for a regime centered in a theocratic mission to export Khomeinism. That terrorism must be deterred and defeated, but outside of the nuclear context.
The key here is for the U.S. to continue to counter Iranian nuclear and regional aggression and Iran’s domestic repression, but in a way that provides continuing diplomatic avenues for peace.
Proportionate escalation, then, is the word of the day.
