Iranian reset should start with Biden firing Special Envoy Malley and other Cabinet officials who have been caught in corruption scandals.
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Up Next
Iranian reset should start with Biden firing Special Envoy Malley and other Cabinet officials who have been caught in corruption scandals.
By
Washington
As far as Iranian foreign policy goes, the country has been an odd duck for most of its young history, with several presidents, presidents-for-life and emperors of Iran going from strength to strength.
The country has seen eight governments – four in the 20th century and four in the 21st – and numerous military dictatorships – including the Qajar and Shah-era regimes – as well as some periods of relative stability.
The country now has a president who has been in office since 2009, a supreme leader who has ruled the nation since 1979, and a parliament that has been dominated by the hard-line, religious-leaning opposition.
And when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, the United States sees Iran as something of a pariah state. It has tried to isolate Iran economically and diplomatically over the last 40 years, at times using covert-action methods. Most recently, it has pressured Iran to abandon its nuclear program and has sanctioned Iranian officials and military units in response, while keeping the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), considered one of the world’s most violent political and military forces, intact.
Those sanctions have contributed to a drop in the Iranian economy of about $80 billion, a major financial strain on the country, and, in turn, a sharp decline in the country’s oil exports.
The sanctions have had consequences beyond the country’s oil exports. Iran’s economy has shrunk by more than half, and unemployment is near the 15% level. Most recently, Iran’s supreme leader has said the country’s economy will implode without sanctions relief.
While the United States has not taken a specific Iran policy in its latest National Security Strategy, it has made it clear that its goal remains the same: to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.
According to the National Security Strategy, which was released in February, the U.S. wants Iran to be more cooperative, including taking “action to reduce the range of nuclear capacities and options.”
The strategy also suggests that some