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Big Questions on Iran Are Still Unanswered
(U.S. News) James F. Jeffrey - Iran did us no favors with the nuclear agreement. It ends sanctions on Iran and will return up to $100 billion of past oil sales revenue in exchange for limits on (but no end to) Iranian enrichment and no admission of wrongdoing despite abundant evidence. Iran's quest for regional hegemony through asymmetrical warfare, terror and intimidation remains a major accelerant to the region's problems. There is little evidence that the hardcore leadership around Supreme Leader Khamenei is interested in a rapprochement - rather the opposite, as Iran's recent ballistic missile tests, humiliation of seized American sailors and behavior in Syria all demonstrate. If the administration opts not to counter Iran, either to encourage an unlikely transformation allegedly flowing from the agreement or to "save" the agreement and its legacy, then it will diminish, rather than enhance, stability in a vital but dangerous region. The writer served as U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor and as Ambassador to Iraq and Turkey.