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Biden's Iran Problem

(Wall Street Journal) Walter Russell Mead - Last week the Biden administration launched a carefully calibrated military strike against a Syrian border post used by Iran-linked militias involved in recent attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq. The administration is signaling that it is willing to engage but is unwilling to let Iran dictate the terms of engagement. Seizing the opportunities that chaos offers in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, Iran has moved effectively to expand its regional profile even as it accelerates its nuclear program. The intimate linkages between the religious hierarchy and the state make it hard for Iran to de-emphasize radical religion and hard-line resistance to the West as the regime's basis for legitimacy - and the military success of Iranian proxies around the region makes it hard to abandon a policy that seems to bring gains. The Biden administration seems to be willing to drop Mr. Trump's maximum-pressure campaign against Tehran but wants both a "stronger and longer" nuclear agreement and more restraints on Iran's regional aggression than anything the Obama administration managed to produce. Iran, where hard-liners seem poised to consolidate even more power after the presidential election scheduled for June, has so far refused to engage. Knowing that the Biden administration has no appetite for another American war in the Middle East, Tehran seems convinced that Washington's only two real choices are the nuclear deal on Iranian terms or an Iranian bomb. The writer is Professor of Foreign Affairs and the Humanities at Bard College. (Wall Street Journal)
2021-03-04 00:00:00
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