During his 2020 presidential campaign, Joseph Biden said of President Trump, “I'm worried he's going to drag us into a war with Iran.”
Biden blasted President Trump's “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, as “dangerously incompetent.” He insisted that withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran was a “big mistake”. Biden has vowed to restore “common sense” to US foreign policy and re-engage with Iran to reduce tensions.
how is it?
After three years of Biden's policy failures, the United States teeters on the brink of war with Tehran. In the wake of the deaths of three American military personnel this week at the hands of Iranian proxies, it is worth comparing the results of President Trump and President Biden's strategies toward Iran.
President Trump: “Maximum Pressure”
From 2018 to 2021, the Trump administration imposed more than 1,500 sanctions against Iran. the goal? Stop Iran from developing a bomb. President Trump made this clear, vowing, “As long as I am President of the United States, I will never allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.''
To that end, President Trump's sanctions have crippled Iran's economy. According to a report by the International Monetary Fund, Iran's oil revenues plummeted from $70 billion in 2017 to just $4 billion in 2020.
President Trump also used force. After an Iranian-backed attack killed a U.S. contractor in December 2019, President Trump authorized an attack on Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force. President Trump tweeted that if more Americans were killed, “Iran itself would be hit very quickly and very hard.”
International relations Ph.D.s from Washington's Foggy Bottom were uncomfortable with President Trump's all-cap warning, but the message was received. The US pressure campaign bothered the Iranian regime so much that it issued an arrest warrant and ridiculously asked Interpol to help arrest President Trump.
Biden: “America is back''
“Go back” clearly meant a return to President Obama's failed Iran strategy. Upon taking office in 2021, President Biden quickly reversed President Trump's hard line on the Islamic Republic.
Less than a month later, Mr. Biden signaled to Iran that he was willing to return to the 2015 nuclear deal. He eased restrictions on Iranian diplomats at the United Nations. Biden's State Department has begun unraveling Trump-era sanctions, rescinding three letters from the United Nations that accused Tehran of “gross failures.” The new president removed the Iranian-backed Houthis from being a terrorist organization and restored $350 million in aid that President Trump withdrew from Iran's favorite proxy, the Palestinian Authority.
This pattern of offering carrots continues. Whether it's hosting the first Nowruz reception at the White House to celebrate Iran's first day of the new year or exchanging $6 billion for five American prisoners, the Biden administration believes pandering and appeasement are the best way to keep the regime aligned. seems to believe that this is the method. (Related: Morgan Murphy: The stench of Ukraine corruption wafts westward)
Not moving.
Since Biden took office, Iranian proxies have continued to attack the United States.Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Said Senators announced in March 2023 that our military had been attacked 83 times to that date. Since Hamas' invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, an additional 150 attacks have occurred, and the severity and range of casualties has increased. In addition to the three deaths, more than 40 U.S. military personnel were injured in recent Iranian proxy attacks this week.
Lost in this escalation of violence and march toward direct conflict is Iran's long-term strategy to acquire nuclear weapons.
In December, the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report saying Iran had enough nuclear material to enrich it to produce three nuclear weapons in a matter of weeks. If you think Iran is brazen and unchecked now, wait until it joins the ranks of the world's nuclear powers.
Whether it's Iran's ambitions to dominate the Middle East, President Putin's invasion of Ukraine, China's “weather balloons” across the continental United States, or the collapse of Afghanistan, the world is seeing a lot more from the Biden administration. is a policy failure that leads to war. And conflict.
Morgan Murphy is a former Pentagon spokesperson, U.S. Senate National Security Advisor, and Afghanistan veteran.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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