Trump’s Iran Plan is Best

For a counterpoint, see “Biden’s Iran Plan is Best.”

The election choice between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden will have major consequences for U.S. national security interests as they relate to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

President Trump has already proven far more capable, trustworthy, and realistic than Mr. Biden on the Iran file for the following reasons.

First, the concerning political instincts and ideological belief system that produced the flawed Iran nuclear deal remain very much at the heart of a potential Biden foreign policy. Advisors to Mr. Biden still believe the JCPOA was a good idea rather than a severe blunder.

Many critics charge that the Obama Administration wanted a deal at all costs, overlooking Iranian craftiness and insincerity and giving up leverage by failing to negotiate about Iran’s malign international behavior, including support for bad actors from South America to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It remains incomprehensible that the U.S. State Department released tens of billions of dollars to the Iranian regime, which only emboldened its abuse of its own citizens and human rights dissidents, its financial ability to pursue nuclear breakout capability, and its support for terror operations in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Israel’s border with Palestinians.

The Iranian regime cannot be trusted, and President Trump has been clear about this. He has re-imposed crippling sanctions, which may increase American leverage in any future negotiations. According to the BBC, Iran’s rial currency has halved in value against the U.S. dollar ever since Trump withdrew from the JCPOA. The Obama-Biden administration wrongly removed sanctions on Iran before they made their deal. Trump is simply a tougher and better deal maker and unlikely to overlook Iranian terror. In fact, by eliminating Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps terror mastermind Qasem Soleimani, Trump devastated Iranian morale and military operations. The Iranians fear Trump, and that is exactly where you want the world’s leading terror state to be.

The Iranian regime cannot be trusted, and President Trump has been clear about this.

Second, Americans, Israelis, the Sunni Arabs states, and the Shiite Iranian regime itself all acknowledge that while Iran might have temporarily paused some of its proliferation activity, the JCPOA failed permanently to limit it. Iran knew that the enforcement provisions of the deal would “sunset” after a decade.

From the very first days of the deal, Iran violated agreements on export controls, centrifuge development, procurement, International Atomic Energy Agency access, ballistic missile development, conventional arms activities, heavy water, enriched uranium amounts and levels, and uranium imports. This all happened before President Trump took office.

Third, the Obama administration sold the Iran deal as an alternative to war after long U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it has been the Trump administration which has achieved very significant successes in the Middle East while pulling back from war, such as the Abraham Accords.

A major reason for the dramatically improved relations for Israel with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, the Saudis, and Kosovo, among others, is the recognition by Muslim states that the United States was fully committed to the coalition confronting Iran and clear in its support for Israel.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry asserted there could be no advanced Arab-Israeli peace that did not run through Ramallah. He was completely wrong. Peace with Palestinians is now more likely because Arab states are increasingly prioritizing the growing coalition against Iran over further donations to a corrupt and irredentist Palestinian Authority.

The President’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, support for Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and a diplomatic policy that Israeli settlements are not per se illegal all revealed to the Islamic world that the U.S.-Israel relationship was on solid footing. Furthermore, the Trump Administration confronted anti-Israel activity at the United Nations, defunded the “pay-for-slay” Palestinian Authority, and ejected the PLO office from Washington, D.C. Far from irritating the Arab world, this all has solidified confidence that allies of the United States have a reliable friend in President Trump. Even Biden now praises the recent peace deals, though several Gulf states seem to prefer Trump’s reelection.

Finally, as Commander in Chief, President Trump has achieved a “peace through strength” security strategy to promote American interests and ideals.

The United States has rebuilt its military, deterred North Korean threats, and challenged China’s growing economic mercantilism and regional intimidation with tariffs and deepened alliances in Asia. As Israel has increased diplomatic and trade relations with India, so has the United States.

Unlike the Obama-Biden administration, Trump has prioritized confronting Iranian threats to Saudi oil facilities and to U.S. Naval assets in the Persian Gulf over European desires for trade deals with the Iranian regime. The United States has correctly prioritized international security and the alliance against Iran over short-term business interests. Returning to the JCPOA — for which Biden vigorously lobbied — will damage the robust coalition confronting a weakening Iranian economy and regional menace. With determination and foreign policy realism, President Trump has earned the trust of those who remain deeply concerned about Iranian nuclear ambitions and capabilities.

Larry Greenfield is a fellow of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship & Political Philosophy.