Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 8
By Azer Ahmadbayli – Trend:
The policy pursued by Washington towards Iran, when all the “sins” of Tehran were thrown in one basket, and when the US insisted on solving the problem of the nuclear deal and the problem of Iran's “malicious activities” in the region in one package, apparently needs to be revised.
So far, Washington has been coupling both issues because by some way or other JCPOA (The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) needed to be discredited and tarnished, and that was an occasion to explode status-quo and get European allies change their minds.
In spite of that, the rest of the nuclear deal signatories continue to consider the nuclear deal as the best possible option for the international community to prevent proliferation.
The US is still unable to form a maritime coalition in the Persian Gulf. Even Great Britain did not opt for a military confrontation with Iran after its oil tanker was captured by the IRGC (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) naval forces.
Washington's strong pressure to tighten the economic noose around Iran does not yet yield the expected results.
Also, military action conducted in the center of the region most filled with hydrocarbons, would be the most ridiculous solution.
Meanwhile, it can be argued that at the moment there is no disagreement between Iranian hardliners and reformists on the issue of countering US policy. That was best illustrated when many hardliners from Iran’s elite expressed their solidarity with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif after his blacklisting by the US government.
All these factors – the lack of support from the US allies, the danger of a Gulf war, not exactly the desired effect of sanctions (Iran continues to sell oil), the consolidation of the Iranian conservatives and reformists – highlight the impossibility to solve the problem by conventional methods used so far.
Demanding everything right away from Iran does not work. It is the same as if parents forbid their child to use his smartphone, PC, ride a bike and meet with friends, because of bad grades, and put all of the above in dependence on good grades. The effect will likely be zero, if not negative.
US President Donald Trump has several times displayed his novel and not unfounded approach in various political matters.
Iran's “bad behavior” in the region threatens primarily Israel, Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf monarchies. Russia is also not so happy with Iran's creeping expansion into Syria and its close relations with the Syrian regime.
So, why doesn't the White House separate Iran’s regional activities from JCPOA, leave them for others and focus only on the latter...or vice versa?