The Bottom Line
First, now is time to increase pressure on Tehran and provide no breathing room, as Iranians settle scores with ruling clerics, pursuant to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). It is also the largest and longest-standing Iranian opposition group with a five-decade history of struggling for freedom and democracy in Iran.
Second, When Iranians rose up against crimes of corrupt dictators, President Trump did not stay silent. He said, "America stands with the people of Iran in their courageous struggle for freedom," according to the President in his first State of the Union remarks to the Congress on January 30, 2018. And then there was a rally:
Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged the rally, when he told CBS's "Face the Nation," "What we want to do is stand with the Iranian people, thousands of whom gathered outside the White House, and thousands of whom took to the streets last year in communities across Iran." Also click here and here.
Third, regarding “maximum pressure,” Treasury targeted the Iran Space Agency, Iran Space Research Center and the Astronautics Research Institute, according to the The New York Times.
Fourth, on May 8, 2019, Trump announced America would cease participating in the nuclear deal with Iran and embark on a new strategy to end Iran’s destabilizing behavior and prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Trump promised America would never be held hostage to Tehran’s nuclear blackmail and would counter its destabilizing activities.
Trump made good on his promise to thwart Iran in a "comprehensive campaign of maximum pressure."
Secretary Pompeo tightened restrictions that impede Iran’s ability to reconstitute its past nuclear weapons program and prevent it from shortening time taken to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon.
President Trump announced a new sanctions authority targeting trade in Iranian metals. This announcement targets Iran’s largest non-oil related export and further degrades the regime’s ability to fund terror and instability.
Tehran’s announcement it intends to expand the nuclear program is in defiance of international norms and an attempt to hold the world hostage Tehran’s threat to renew nuclear work to shorten time to develop a nuclear weapon underscores continuing challenges Iran poses to peace and security worldwide, according to the First Anniversary of President Trump’s New Iran Strategy, articulated by Secretary Pompeo.
Breaking News
On Aug. 26, 2019, President Hassan Rouhani said he is willing to negotiate and meet with Trump to resolve issues during the Trump-Macron press conference as the possibility for such meeting, at the Joint Briefing to the press by Trump and President Macron:
Trump's Maximum Pressure:
Rouhani said he was prepared to meet any political leader on behalf of Tehran. Macron made the same point to Rouhani on the phone as well: That if Rouhani were to agree to a meeting with Trump, Macron thought an agreement was possible, according to the Trump-Macron press conference.
Once the G-7 was over with no strong words against Iran, Rouhani went back to the regime’s default positions. "We seek to resolve the issues and solve the problems in a reasonable way," at the Trump-Macron press conference.
"But we don’t seek photos," Rouhani said in a televised speech. "If you lifted all the sanctions, bowed respectfully to the Iranian nation, well then the conditions are different," during the Trump-Macron press conference.
Tehran’s strategy: Hide its weakness, economic and corruption it is facing from the inside, as dissent continues across the country and Resistance Units gain momentum, based on my interviews with Members of the NCRI.
The Way Forward
First, in a joint press conference of Trump with Macron on Aug. 26, they reported President Rouhani said he was prepared to meet any political leader for his country at the White House. Trump might consider should a session, but should be circumspect about it.
Macron told Zarif, that Macron spoken to Rouhani by phone:
If he agreed to a meeting with Trump, Macron’s conviction was that an accord can be met. We know the terms, we know the objectives, but we have to just now sit around the table and make that happen. So, I hope that in the next few weeks, based on our discussions, we will be able to achieve them. Again, Trump might be cautious about such a meeting.
Second, Zarif said, "We are not a system that [is] operating on its own. . . How can we do anything in this country without reporting it? It is not as though we have sought to do anything contrary to the wishes of His Eminence the Leader," Ayatollah Khamenei. Trump might be skeptical of any meeting with Khamenei or Rouhani.
So, third, keep up the "maximum pressure," on Iran!
Prof. Raymond Tanter (@AmericanCHR) served as a senior member on the Middle East Desk of the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush administration, Personal Representative of the Secretary of Defense to international security and arms control talks in Europe, and is now Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. Tanter is on the comprehensive list of conservative writers and columnists who appear in The Wall Street Journal, Townhall.com, National Review, The Weekly Standard, Human Events, The American Spectator, and now in Newsmax. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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