While the Trump administration’s policy of placing “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic, primarily through sanctions, has failed to end the mullahs’ quest for nuclear weapons, it has greatly reduced their financial capacity to terrorize the region. But more still can be done, both by the White House and by Congress, argue Mark Dubowitz, Behnam Ben Taleblu, and Richard Goldberg:
[Above all], the Trump administration should do more to strengthen its “sanctions wall of deterrence,” whose purpose is to deter market players from returning to business with Iran even if the United States rejoins the [2015 nuclear deal after the next election].
Washington needs to establish clear red lines to head off further Iranian escalation as the maximum pressure campaign continues. Last summer, Washington did not respond to Iranian regional and nuclear escalation, culminating in a cruise missile and drone strike on Saudi Arabia that knocked offline almost 6 million barrels of daily petroleum production.
While the killing of [the Iranian general Qasem] Suleimani shocked Tehran after its militias killed an American in Iraq, Washington since has absorbed repeated rocket and mortar attacks from pro-Iran militias, even after two American and one British solider were killed. The red line against the taking of American lives must be enforced. But even this high bar for the use of force can make allies skeptical about American staying power in the region while incentivizing Iran-backed Shiite militias to continue their attacks.
The administration [moreover] must safeguard gains and add to its wins. First, it should not offer Tehran any premature sanctions relief. Diminishing American leverage led to the fatally flawed 2015 agreement in the first place and has not worked in the administration’s negotiations with North Korea, in which Trump’s summit diplomacy undermined the pressure campaign. Washington should defend its sanctions wall against a new administration by designating more Iranian entities and economic sectors under multiple sanctions authorities.
Read more on FDD: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2020/07/09/fortify-the-iran-sanctions-wall/