The Biden Administration's Iran Plan Won't Work: Time for Plan B | The Heritage Foundation

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

57% : This estimate could certainly be achieved if Iran were to receive outside technical assistance, such as from Russia.
56% : Like many authoritarian regimes, Tehran understands power.
55% : Succumbing to wishful thinking, the Administration remains committed to negotiating an illusory nuclear deal that would grant Tehran up to $275 billion in financial benefits during its first year in effect, and $1 trillion by 2030.REF This huge financial infusion would reward Tehran for temporary limits on uranium enrichment that might at best delay, but not halt, Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions.
54% : Tehran has made steady progress in developing its nuclear enterprise, putting it closer to testing or fielding a nuclear weapon -- if it chooses to do so.
54% : Iran has invested significantly in its missile programs and now has the largest missile arsenal in the Middle East.
53% : REF Tehran is also developing missiles with longer ranges under cover of its space program.
52% : In this manner, enforcing sanctions could also promote freedom inside Iran.
51% : Tehran would reap billions of dollars that it could spend on arms and nuclear technology from Russia and China.
50% : To enable the vigorous enforcement of sanctions, the White House should order: (1) the intelligence community to prioritize intelligence-gathering on Iran's methods to circumvent economic sanctions, and (2) the State and Treasury Departments to update their lists of Iran's front companies and foreign enablers of sanctions-busting more frequently, and (3) to share them with appropriate foreign governments to enhance enforcement.
48% : Western intelligence officials assess that Iran may be in the process of transferring surface-to-surface missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine, in addition to the hundreds of armed drones it already has transferred to Russia's armed forces.
48% : In November, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, the IRGC tested a space-launch vehicle which Tehran claims is for the purpose of eventually putting civilian satellites into orbit.
48% : It must compel Iran's regime to pay a much higher price for those actions, or Tehran will continue to act with impunity.
47% : Iran now has enough enriched uranium to fashion a nuclear explosive.
46% : One troubling assessment published in June 2022 judged that Iran could "deploy nuclear weapons on ballistic missiles in a year or two.
46% : Because U.S. military forces are already stretched thin in meeting global security commitments, Washington must work closely with regional allies and partners to deter Tehran.
46% : But Washington cannot orchestrate regime change in Iran; it can only help to shape conditions that would make it more likely to happen.
45% : By discarding the Trump Administration's "maximum pressure" policy, the Biden Administration has reduced the costs to Iran of continuing its nuclear advances and flouting its obligations under its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear safeguards agreement.
43% : Work with European Allies to "Snap Back" U.N. Sanctions on Iran.
43% : Although the U.S. is no longer considered a JCPOA participant, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom remain participants, and they can trigger the automatic reimposition of multilateral U.N. sanctions on Iran under the agreement.
42% : This frank statement from the Secretary of State is supported by evidence gathered by the IAEA -- the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog -- which detailed Tehran's violations of a number of provisions of the JCPOA, including:REF Beyond Iran's JCPOA violations, the IAEA asserts that Iran has failed to abide by its safeguard commitments as a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
41% : In addition to denouncing protesters as "separatists," the regime has sought to target groups outside Iran as instigators of the unrest as a means of deflecting blame for its own role in provoking protests.
41% : Once the measure is triggered by one or more JCPOA participants alleging that Iran has violated the agreement, Iran's relief from U.N. sanctions would automatically expire within 30 days unless the Security Council passes a resolution to continue it.
41% : Rather than downplaying the accords for political reasons, the Biden Administration should strongly support the expansion of the accords to include Saudi Arabia and other Arab states threatened by Iran.
39% : The Administration must shore up its diplomatic demands by fully using all the tools of national power, including punitive economic sanctions and the threat of military force, if necessary, to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapons capability.
39% : The White House should direct the Pentagon to help to enhance the security of regional allies and partners, particularly Bahrain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, which face the most severe threats from Iran and its terrorist surrogates.
38% : In its most recent quarterly report, the IAEA warned that it was unable to verify the exact size of Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium due to limitations that Tehran imposed on U.N. inspectors last year and the removal of the agency's monitoring and surveillance equipment at sites in Iran in June.
38% : He should declare that Iran will receive sanctions relief only when it verifiably ends its violations of its nuclear nonproliferation commitments and agrees to permanent, fully verifiable restrictions on its nuclear program that do not expire at arbitrary dates.
37% : Meanwhile, Tehran reportedly has deployed Arab paramilitary proxy groups from Iraq and Lebanon to help to crush the revolt at home.
37% : It is unclear how far Iran is from fashioning a nuclear warhead for a ballistic missile.
36% : By invoking the snapback option, the European allies would force Tehran to pay a higher price for violating its nonproliferation commitments under its nuclear safeguards agreement, as well as the JCPOA.
36% : Expand the Abraham Accords to Strengthen Regional Cooperation Against Iran.
34% : Washington must refuse sanctions relief as long as Iran continues its hostile acts and must focus on deterring and defeating Tehran's multiple threats.
34% : Ramp Up Sanctions on Iran.
33% : The United States, along with partners, must now escalate pressure on Iran and declare that the 2015 nuclear agreement is dead.
32% : The Biden Administration relaxed its enforcement of sanctions in a misguided effort to coax Tehran back into the flawed JCPOA, failing to stem the smuggling of illicit Iranian oil exports to China, Iran's biggest customer.
30% : Even Ambassador Dennis Ross, a former Obama Administration official who advocated for the JCPOA, admits that only the credible threat of the use of force would stop the regime: "So long as Iran doubts that the United States will use force against them or their nuclear infrastructure, there is little prospect of a diplomatic outcome that truly affects where its nuclear program is ultimately headed.
22% : To address Iran's intensifying nuclear and regional challenges, the United States should: Abandon Appeasement and Bolster Deterrence to Prevent Iran from Acquiring a Nuclear Weapon.
21% : President Biden should halt efforts to revive the increasingly irrelevant JCPOA and stop counterproductive efforts to bribe Tehran with sanctions relief that it will use to boost its multifaceted threats to the United States and its allies.
21% : If Tehran rejects negotiations, President Biden should declare that the United States will use military force, if necessary, alongside allies and partners to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
20% : Now is the time for the United States to rule out rewarding Tehran with sanctions relief until Iran halts its hostile acts and focus on deterring, containing, and defeating Tehran's multiple threats.

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