America’s confrontation with Iran has an important new twist. Congressional opponents and supporters of the Iran nuclear deal are now urging President Obama to ignore Iranian threats and impose new sanctions on Iran over its testing of ballistic missiles, in violation of Security Council resolutions.
The Iranians vow they will scotch the nuclear accord if the U.S. imposes new sanctions against Iran – for any reason. The new sanctions would be unrelated to existing ones imposed on Iran over its nuclear program that are slated to be lifted shortly as part of the nuclear agreement.
During the congressional debate over that agreement, virtually all of the deal’s supporters expressed reservations because (a) it lacked any real provisions for monitoring Iranian nuclear activities proscribed by the deal, (b) it was of relatively limited duration, and (c) it ignored Iran’s support for terrorism and non-nuclear weapons production. But they supported it anyway, saying they feared Iran would otherwise be free of any restraints on its nuclear weapons production unless imposed by military force.
The fact that these supporters are now prepared to take that risk is a significant turn of events and signals a whole new reality for Mr. Obama.
The president had assured supporters at the time that he would respond to Iran’s non-nuclear depredations forcefully and swiftly. In a letter to one congressman, as part of an effort to get him to support the agreement, Mr. Obama wrote:
I made sure that the United States reserved its right to maintain and enforce existing sanctions and even to deploy new sanctions to address those continuing concerns, which we fully intend to do when circumstances warrant.
Indeed, last week the administration notified Congress that new sanctions would be imposed – but soon afterward announced there would be a delay of uncertain duration.
In their reaction to the delay announcement, several leading Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter to the president, saying in part:
Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the region and continued support for terrorism represent an unacceptable threat to our closest allies as well as our own national security…. As the international community prepares for implementation of the [nuclear deal], Iran must understand that violating international laws treaties, and agreements will have serious consequences. We call on the administration to immediately announce new U.S. sanctions against individuals and entities involved in the Iran missile program to ensure Iran is held accountable for its actions.
They concluded with:
Inaction from the United States would send the misguided message that, in the wake of the [nuclear agreement], the international community has lost the willingness to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its support for terrorism and other offensive actions throughout the region – including in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip.
This incipient congressional revolt against the president’s Iran policy comes at the same time Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf states, wary of the palpable American hesitancy to take on the Iranians, have entered into an extremely dangerous Sunni versus Shiite confrontation with Iran.
The worst case scenario for Mr. Obama, who is in the twilight of his presidency and sees the Iran nuclear deal as one of his more significant legacy achievements, would be if Iran continued to defy the international community after having the nuclear sanctions lifted and receiving a $100 billion windfall.
For this, and because of the continuing disintegration of American status in the Middle East, the president’s time for decisive action against Iran is now.