In exchange for the release of Alan Gross, the U.S. agreed to normalize relations with Havana without making any demands or obtaining any concessions in return. This move, writes Elliott Abrams, sends an unmistakable message both to our allies and to our enemies:
Imagine for a moment that you are a Saudi, Emirati, Jordanian, or Israeli. Your main national-security worry these days is Iran—Iran’s rise, its nuclear program, its troops fighting in Iraq and Syria, its growing influence from Yemen through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. Your main ally against Iran for the past decades has been the United States. Naturally you worry about American policy. . . . You wonder if the United States can be relied on, or will one day announce a major policy shift. . . .
And now, you turn on the TV and see the announcement about the change in American policy in Cuba. . . . Your conclusion about Iran is inevitable: that the Obama administration cannot be relied upon and is quite likely to abandon America’s Iran policy as well.
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