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Faith-Based Negotiations

(Weekly Standard) Reuel Marc Gerecht - It's impossible to find a Western parallel to the "supreme leader" of the Islamic Republic of Iran, or to that regime's particular fusion of church and state. Like his predecessor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei sees Islam as under siege from the West, and especially the U.S. The Obama administration wants to believe that the supreme leader just might forsake his historic mission - the quest for nuclear weapons begun under Khomeini and carried forth at great cost by Khamenei and every single Iranian president - because the U.S., "the epicenter of evil," has rallied the West against Iran. The all-important psychology of escalating sanctions, and the increasing American willpower that produced them, will soon be replaced by a spirit of compromise and, among foreign businesses, greed and a new resolve to test the administration's willingness to punish companies, especially European and Chinese firms, that violate U.S. sanctions. And without crippling sanctions, Washington will have no real leverage left over the Iranian regime. The writer is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2013-12-02 00:00:00
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