Don’t Let Iran’s Clerics off the Hook,
The Fall in Oil Prices, and Sanctions have Terrified them.
Washington, DC, January 16, 2015 – As Congress decides on a soon-to-be-introduced Iran sanctions bill, Organization of Iranian-American Communities-US (OIAC-US) urges the responsible decision makers to avoid leniency towards Iran.
Apologists and those who would rather take a bad deal than to face the truth about Iran’s belligerency offer us many reasons to concede further, asking Congress to withhold action on additional sanctions. They tell us that Iran would walk out of the talks, that more sanctions would adversely affect the Iranian people, and that America would lose a historic opportunity to mitigate a national security threat.
As desperate as they are, the clerics cannot afford to walk away from the talks. They are negotiating from a position of weakness. The fall in oil prices and the sanctions have terrified the mullahs. They should not be let off the hook.
Despite the recent drop in oil revenues and the impact of the sanctions, the Iranian regime has increased the annual budget for its Revolutionary Guards Force by 50 percent, a large portion of which is funding Tehran’s intervention in Iraq and Syria.
Two and half years have passed since Congress passed the sanctions bill against Iran. Yet, since the talks have started with Iran, no access has been provided to the IAEA to any of the suspected military sites such as Parchin, and none of the outstanding questions relating to the possible military dimensions of the nuclear program has been resolved. Legislators should also be aware of the “good guy (supposed moderates), bad guy (the conservatives)” narrative, being pitched by Iran and its U.S. lobby apparatus. In reality, Iranian nuclear negotiating team is acting under the full authority and direction of the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.
Tehran’s Ayatollahs are paranoid of an increasingly discontented population. Iran is thus desperately trying to lift the sanctions without complying with its nuclear obligations. That is why we believe the proposed legislation acts as a necessary leverage to force Tehran to comply.
OIACUS.OERG
Contact: Dr. Majid Sadeghpour at majid.sadeghpour@oiacus.org
