The Moral Bankruptcy of the Iran Hawks

I don’t know if impoverishing and starving innocent people is a “political loser” in this country, but I do know that it is a malicious, cruel, and inhumane policy that decent people should abhor.

Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh dress up the same failed sanctions approach as a “new approach" to Iran:

Since sanctions became serious in 2018, Iran has seen major demonstrations without protesters venting against America. The clerical regime views these protests as potential rebellions; we should, too.

The Biden administration says it wants to amp up the U.S. commitment to democratic values abroad. The biggest potential return on investment is in Iran. Mr. Khamenei’s selection of Mr. Raisi should tell the White House it has nothing now to lose by trying.

It would almost be amusing that Gerecht and Takeyh refer to this as a “far more moral and practical foreign policy” if it weren’t so morally bankrupt and evil. The U.S. has been inflicting collective punishment on more than eighty million Iranians in a vain bid to compel their government to capitulate on a wide range of issues. All Trump-era sanctions remain in place. The strangling of the Iranian people has not stopped. I don’t know if impoverishing and starving innocent people is a “political loser” in this country, but I do know that it is a malicious, cruel, and inhumane policy that decent people should abhor. As usual, Iran hawks propose the same mindless and destructive policy of causing massive harm to the Iranian people and then spout a lot of empty rhetoric about supporting the people and promoting human rights.

Iranian protesters have plenty of legitimate grievances against their own government, but no one should think that the U.S. isn’t deeply mistrusted and resented because of the economic war that it has been waging on the people. The 2021 Iran Poll survey had a lot to tell us about Iranian public opinion on sanctions and the U.S. The report on the survey stated:

Nearly half say the U.S. sanctions have had a “great negative impact,” and over four in five say the sanctions have had a negative impact “on the lives of ordinary people.” These levels are almost unchanged from 2019.

Sanctions are obviously not the cause of all the problems in Iran, but they exacerbate many of the existing problems and impose additional hardship on the population. The Iranian people know who it is that is inflicting this punishment on them, and they understandably have a very poor view of the U.S. as a result. 73% have a very unfavorable view of the United States, and another 11% have a somewhat unfavorable view. Only a tiny minority holds the U.S. in high esteem. The same policy that these Iran hawks want to keep in place and intensify makes the vast majority of Iranians loathe and distrust the U.S. Unfavorable views of the U.S. peaked last year at a total of 87%, but they continue to be very high and significantly higher than they were in 2015 and 2016 when the nuclear deal seemed to promise a change for the better.

Current U.S. Iran policy makes no sense unless you hate the Iranian people and want them to suffer. This is clearly what Iran hawks want. Unless the Biden administration gets its act together quickly, the hawks will get what they want.