MESOPOTAMIA NEWS SPECIAL SAMPLER IRAN – RELEVANT SOURCES

TOP OF THE AGENDA –U.S. Ups Iran Pressure Campaign

The United States has established a new action group to coordinate a pressure campaign aimed at changing the Iranian regime’s behavior (Reuters), U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced.

The Iran Action Group will be headed by the new special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, who has led State Department efforts to persuade U.S. allies (Politico) to halt Iranian oil purchases as the United States reinstates sanctions. Pompeo said the Trump administration, which abandoned a 2015 landmark deal that saw sanctions relief for Iran in exchange for curbing its nuclear program, could reach a new agreement with Tehran (CNN) if the government changes its behavior both inside and beyond its borders.

ANALYSIS

“The Iran Action Group is yet another echo of the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when the George W. Bush administration launched the ‘Office of Special Plans’ out of the Pentagon to cherry-pick intelligence and make the case for war,” writes Jamal Abadi, the president of the National Iranian American Council.

“Many will criticize the Iran Action Group—and I am skeptical that the administration will get Iran back to the table, leaving it with unrealistic regime change. One important objective and, in my view, much-needed aspect of the IAG though is to coordinate inter-agency efforts on Iran. That’s positive,” tweets Ariane Tabatabai.

“Post-Iraq, post-Afghanistan, the primary American question is whether Washington’s political elite is capable of imagining interventionism,” write Reuel Marc Gerecht and CFR’s Ray Takeyh for the Weekly Standard.