Pressure On Iran Works; US Weakness Invites Escalation – Think Tank

A US-based think tank says data prove that the United States sanctions on Iran work as the Islamic Republic has less money to fund and conduct terrorism.

The CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Mark Dubowitz, said on Monday that that the abandonment of US pressure under President Joe Biden has boosted Iranian oil sales, economic growth, regional aggression and nuclear escalation.

FDD has advocated a tough US policy on Iran and has opposed the 2015 nuclear agreement, the JCPOA.

He added that recent data contradict the Biden administration’s claims that pressure increases Iran’s aggressive behavior, noting that when US sanctions are enforced, Iran spends less for malign activities in the region. Pressure works; weakness invites provocation, Dubowitz tweeted.

He republished a post by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), showing that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recent remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about Iranian aggression being only the result of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal are “misleading and inaccurate”.

Dubowitz also shared a series of tweets by Gabriel Noronha, former Special Advisor for the Secretary's Iran Action Group in the Trump administration, who compared the Iranian military budget trends against US sanctions since 2013.

Using data by the international institute SIPRI – which recently revealed Iran has increased its military expenditure for the first time in four years to become the 14th largest military spender, Noronha showed that Iran's oil exports "directly" funds its terror.