I wish I didn’t have to say more about the Middle East. But anyway ….
Years ago I saw a minor traffic accident in Manhattan. One driver jumped out of his car yelling “You Iranian.” He had no idea where the other driver was from, but Iran was the villain of the day.
Today you hear people claiming that Iran was responsible for Hamas’ attack on Israel. Everyone needs a boogeyman. But Hamas didn’t need anyone to authorize their brutal behavior. From Hamas’ point of view, the worst thing that could happen was peace between Israel and other Arab states that would make a Palestinian homeland almost impossible. So Hamas had every reason to disrupt it. The Abraham Accords involved rapprochement without taking account of the Palestinians’ plight. War and assassination had been used before to disrupt rapprochement between Israel and the Arab states. So Hamas was motivated to act. Given its guerilla tactics, it needed little from Iran, and certainly no puppet master pulling strings.
The war in Gaza and Israel is about Palestine, not Iran. Hamas’ attack was unconscionable, un-Islamic, terrorism. Condemnations of Hamas are obviously useless – they used their cruelty to show off and scare. So we talk about Israel because there is an argument there about what to do and its politics can reflect it.
As a matter of cause and effect, Israeli mistreatment of Palestinians had helped create conditions in which Hamas’ terrorism could affect the Middle East. The idea that our friends, or ourselves, can make no mistake is just blind idiocy.
It’s still unclear how Iran will take advantage of the war but it’s important to understand that Iran feels surrounded by Turkey and the Arab states. Hamas is based in Sunni Islam. Iran created and supports Shia Hezbollah in Lebanon. But beyond the religious split, Iran and the Arabs are generally hostile to and look down upon each other. Iran feels isolated and uses the Palestinian issue to give it entry to its surrounding Middle Eastern neighbors. As often said, they need to be more Palestinian than the Palestinians to keep doors open to its neighbors.
Demagogues convinced many Americans that no good can come out of dealing with Iran. But the nuclear deal with the US and other European countries was very popular among the Persian people. It offered an opening to world trade that could have made their lives much better, plus admiration and affection for the US lingers despite major conflict between us. The mullahs didn’t like the deal but they understood that the people did, which put a lot of pressure on them to keep a workable relationship with this country.
Until an ignorant dilettante in the White House canceled it. Surrounded by unfriendly Arab states and with US trade cut off, Iran went looking for powerful friends and settled on Russia – not because they liked Russia – Russia was a historic threat to them – but because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That’s clearly a problem for us and for Israel. But no, Humpty Dumpty is not going back together again for a long time.
What has been unraveling the Middle East has been the unwillingness of segments of Israeli and Palestinian politics to follow the ethical injunctions of their own faiths.
For too many of us, the solution seems to be to keep the history of other countries out of the schools and prevent Americans from gaining a realistic understanding of the world. But ignorance doesn’t solve problems.
— If you think I’m on target, please pass it on. For the podcast, please click here. This commentary was scheduled for broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, on Oct. 31, 2023.
I keep wishing I wouldn’t have to write more about the Middle East. But anyway ….
Years ago I observed a minor traffic accident in Manhattan. One of the drivers jumped out of his car yelling “You Iranian” at the other. Of course he had no idea where the other driver was from but Iran was the villain of the day.
So today you hear people claiming that Iran was responsible for Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Everyone needs a boogeyman. But Hamas did not need Iran or anyone else to turn them on. From their point of view the worst thing that could happen was peace between Israel and other Arab states. Peace between Israel and the Arab states would make their project of a Palestinian homeland almost impossible. Hamas had every reason to disrupt any such rapprochement. The Abraham Accords threatened just such a rapprochement and took no account of the plight of the Palestinians. War and assassination had been used before to disrupt rapprochement between Israel and the Arab states. Hamas had plenty of motivation to act. And given its guerilla tactics, it didn’t need much from Iran, and certainly no puppet master pulling strings.
The war in Gaza and Israel is about Palestine, not Iran. And yes, Hamas’ response was unconscionable, un-Islamic, terrorism, but as a matter of cause and effect, it is also true that Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians created the conditions in which this could happen. The idea that our friends, or ourselves, can do no wrong, is just blind idiocy.
Back to Iran, there’s something else Americans and their leaders don’t understand. Iran feels surrounded by Turkey and the Arab states. Hamas is based in Sunni Islam. Iran created Shia Hezbollah in Lebanon and has been supporting it. But beyond the religious split, Iran and the Arabs are generally quite hostile to and look down upon each other. Iran feels isolated and uses the Palestinian issue to give it entry to the surrounding nations of the Middle East. As has been said, they need to be more Palestinian than the Palestinians to keep the doors open to its neighbors.
Demagogues have sold America the idea that nothing good can come out of dealing with Iran. But the nuclear deal with the US and other European countries was very popular among the Persian people. It offered an opening to world trade that could have made their lives much better plus there was a reservoir of admiration and affection for the US that lingered despite major conflict between us. The mullahs didn’t like the deal but they understood that the people did and that put a lot of pressure on them to keep a workable relationship with this country.
Until an ignorant dilettante in the White House canceled it. Surrounded by unfriendly Arab states and with US trade cut off, Iran went looking for powerful friends and settled on Russia – not because they liked Russia – Russia was a historic threat to them – but because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And no, Humpty Dumpty is not going back together again for a long time.
But what has been unraveling the Middle East has been the unwillingness of a segment of Israeli and Palestinian politics to follow the ethical inunctions of their own faiths.
And for too many of us, the solution seems to be to keep the history of other countries out of the schools and prevent Americans from gaining a realistic understanding of the world. But ignorance will not solve problems.
— If you think I’m on target, please pass it on. For the podcast, please click here. This commentary was scheduled for broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, on Oct. 31, 2023.
Artist Cheryl De Ciantis came in from Arizona. She’d gathered photographs of the women in the demonstrations who were murdered or had been disfigured by destruction of an eye. The women wanted their disfigured faces to be seen. Those who could, took selfies and proudly showed their destroyed eye sockets or added a patch to call attention to what had been taken. Others sent pictures of the murdered women. Almost all of the women were smiling. Cheryl built paintings around the photographs, so we could see how lovely these women were, or are, and added roses to the pictures of the dead.
The word for an eye in farsi, the language of Iran, is chashm. Socially, chashm sort of means “I will,” but I avoided using the term in that context because the fuller meaning is “I promise to do that on my eyes,” or, more completely, “If I don’t fulfill my promise you may take my eyes out.” The expression turns my stomach. It’s a way that the cruelty of Nader Shah, famous for removing people’s eyes centuries ago, is preserved in everyday speech. Every Persian knows that history.
When Persian soldiers and Revolutionary Guards kill or shoot the eyes out of women who demonstrate for the life and freedom of women in Iran, even beyond the horror that Americans feel, every Persian understands the symbolism.
At dinner I pushed back – how, I asked, will the bravery and sacrifice of these women make any difference? Mahmood responded that society will condemn the cruelty. I pushed back. When Martin Luther King brought the nonviolent philosophy and strategy of the great Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi, to the Civil Rights Movement, he was counting on the support, and the vote, of horrified citizens from the states that had not been segregated by law. But Iranians don’t have the power of the ballot – whatever good things he did, President Eisenhower deposed a democratically selected Iranian Prime Minister in 1953. Iran has not been able to choose their leaders since. Americans may not remember – it’s not our history – but I never met a Persian who didn’t. We’re still paying the price.
So how is the self-sacrifice of these brave women going to make any difference? Mahmood responded, accurately, that dictatorships and theocracies are brought down either by conquest or by collapse from within. But the price of opposition from the inside is death. Dictators hold on to their power with cruelty, murder and fear, major hurdles to any kind of overthrow. Mahmood shot back that there is growing opposition from within the regime.
I’m convinced that the people of Iran do not want an invasion. Don’t be taken in by military solutions – Iranians don’t want us with guns and uniforms. They’ve had too much of that; it would slaughter too many of the people of Iran; and it would end up putting the wrong people in power. They want to own their own future and make it happen their way. And they are convinced that enough sacrifice, horrible as it is, will curdle enough minds, hearts and stomachs even inside the ruling regime that internal dissent will make the dictatorship crumble. That leaves me praying for the wonderful, kind and thoughtful people I knew there. Salaam Aleykomسلام علیکم – peace be with you.
— If you think I’m on target, please pass it on. For the podcast, please click here. This commentary was scheduled for broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, on June 20, 2023.
My wife and I met years ago when we both served in the United States Peace Corps in Iran. There have been no American Peace Corps Volunteers in Iran since 1976. Peace Corps Volunteers got to know a wide segment of the Iranian population, as we do everywhere, realized trouble was brewing and Peace Corps officials pulled them out. Here in Albany we’ve been part of a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers who’ve served in all parts of the world. We meet monthly, share a pot luck dinner, provide a forum for newly returned Volunteers, and listen intently to news about goings on in the many countries where we used to serve and the many organizations who work with people there and with immigrants from those countries here.
A few years ago my wife was asked to become president of the Peace Corps Iran Association (PCIA). It’s been a very interesting and active organization. They’ve identified the vast majority of former volunteers, developed a history of the Peace Corps in Iran, published an anthology of stories by former Volunteers about their Peace Corps service, have a book group that discusses literature about Iran, a current events group that meets to discuss developments involving Iran, and they have newsletters about relevant current events and activities of former Volunteers. Even while constantly studying and discussing current events, PCIA avoids taking positions about policy choices other than pointing out to all who will listen that most of the Iranian people, as opposed to its clerical leadership, have long had very warm feelings toward the U.S., alongside considerable national pride.
PCIA just held a national meeting. At all our meetings we’ve shared memories and stories about our experiences. But the depth of the relationships between Volunteers and our Persian hosts was a theme of this meeting. Some of the Persians who trained us to serve in Iran spoke at the meeting and we talked about the effects we had on the Persians and they on us. I discovered that another Volunteer who worked in the same city held weekly discussions with an Iranian cleric; they’d agreed to teach each other Eastern and Western philosophy. I wished I’d been a fly on their wall.
Discussions at their meetings have been consistently level-headed and enlightening. One of the speakers was John Limbert, a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran and American diplomat who eventually headed the Iran desk for the Obama Administration. Unfortunately, he was in the embassy when it was seized during the Revolution and spent 444 days as a hostage, but yet manages to focus on the future, not the past, on how we might have a more productive relationship going forward, and has written a marvelous and very perceptive study of the Iran nuclear deal that I highly recommend. So I feel very grateful for the ability to keep up my interest in and concern for the people of Iran and follow the international politics through the Peace Corps Iran Association.
I know no society where everybody’s an angel or devil. Too many in this country have been immersed in a bath of prejudice – Iranians are this, immigrants are that, rich people are worthy, poor people are not. Level-headed people in the Iranian diaspora have been attacked from various sources with threats and false information to prevent their opposing war, supporting negotiations or the women’s life and freedom campaign. Violence and intimidation make progress and reasonable discussion difficult if not impossible. We can all do better. I know there are better ways.
— If you think I’m on target, please pass it on. For the podcast, please click here. This commentary was scheduled for broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, on June 6, 2023.
Iran’s rulers are responding to demonstrations with violence, imprisonment and murder. That’s very painful for many of us. I believe at least one of our Iranian friends lost her life as the result of the Revolution in 1979, though I haven’t been able to find out for certain. I’m sure some of our friends have experienced similar grief either in 1979 or coming from the current violence. Can America do anything about it?
The background is the Iranian-American relationship or lack of it. The people of Iran have long wanted a cordial relationship with the US which helped support the nuclear deal that Obama struck with Iran when he was president. But Iran’s growing relationship with Russia has the political effect of hardening the American position regarding Iran, regardless of what the Administration might prefer. On the Iranian side, Trump’s renunciation of the nuclear deal made them unwilling to trust this country. Whether or not you think it was a good deal, breaking it eroded confidence that we would fulfill our part of future agreements and left little room for diplomacy.
The war in Ukraine deepened that split by giving Iran opportunities to deal with Russia. Historically Russia was a threat to Iran, which inclined many in Iran toward stronger relations with the US. But worsening relations with the US made it increasingly reasonable for Iran to supply Russia with weapons and it has. Thus the war in Ukraine embedded our relations with Iran into a much more complex and entrenched regional issue.
Europe seems to have partly reconciled to the US but I have no realistic idea what confidence building measures could bring Iran back to a bargaining table – unless either the Putin government or the Iranian theocracy collapses. Either of those events could make Russia an unacceptable partner for Iran and therefore open the possibility of better relations with this country. But I think the ground will have to shift in a pretty large way before there will be room for diplomacy. And I don’t have a good idea what intermediaries might be able to offer that could bridge that gap.
The circumstances I’ve just described make it almost impossible to do anything in this country about the horrible violence in Iran. We might once have offered relief from sanctions if the killings stopped. But the breech between our countries makes that or whatever we might once have offered useless. At this point I doubt either the American people or the Iranian authorities would stand for that kind of deal.
The only possible exception I can see would be a welcome hand for refugees. From an American perspective, Iranian refugees have been good friends and very productive citizens. I should add that my heart bleeds for refugees from many equally cruel circumstances. I wish Iranian-Americans didn’t attack each other over American policy toward Iran with claims that one or the other side in American politics has blood on its hands – it’s a fruitless response to their pain. Those calling for negotiations may not be accomplishing anything but they are not making it worse either. Those calling for armed confrontations are asking for trouble but are not the cause of what’s happening now. I would pray for the Iranian people and offer the demonstrators a place of safety. There are more suggestions and a good deal of current information on the Peace Corps Iran Association website and look for the Advocacy Bulletin.
The proverbial curse threatens “may you live in interesting times.” These are! I wish I could see a better way out.
— If you think I’m on target, please pass it on. For the podcast, please click here. This commentary was scheduled for broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, on January 24, 2023.
I want to return to Iran because there’s a lot to be learned from our relationship. We treat the multi-power nuclear fuel agreement as a problem with Iran. But an important part of the problem has roots here and it’s to our benefit to straighten it out; it’s costly to have an antagonistic relationship with Iran particularly when it holds the petroleum card during Putin’s attempt to conquer Ukraine.
Peace Corps volunteers were level-headed about Iran. They saw sign of turmoil there years before the Revolution and the Peace Corps pulled out in 1976. Some volunteers stayed in other roles. We know some, including diplomats working in the American Embassy when it was overtaken in 1979. They spent the next year-and-a-half as hostages.
The US and Iran actually admired each other for centuries before the Iranian Revolution. Americans once thought of Iran as a civilized buffer against the Turks who had threatened Christian Europe. And Iran had embraced generations of refugees since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem long before the Christian era. Iranians thought the US could be an honest broker between neighboring Russia or, later, the Soviet Union, and the British. Perceiving Russia’s threat on its border, Iran had good reasons to work with us.
Those understandings broke down for domestic and international reasons. England wanted American help to control Iranian oil. In the early 50s, Iran had a parliamentary form of government with a Prime Minister who wanted to improve the lot of the lower economic classes, control Iranian oil, and stay on peaceful terms with its much larger neighbor to the north. My wife and I remember seeing the poor in Iran, some sleeping on carts they used during the day. But Prime Minister Mossadegh’s efforts to help Iran’s poor, while resisting British demands and trying to mollify its northern neighbor, played poorly in the US. America consistently favored capitalism over democracy and deposed the leaders of governments which tried to put limits on capitalism and distribute benefits to the populace. That was true when the Eisenhower Administration deposed elected leaders in Guatemala as well as in Iran. It was true when the Reagan Administration intervened in Central America, followed by brutal civil wars. Those problems still fester.
The Iranian Revolution hasn’t worked out as well as some Iranians hoped, and there’ve been many problems since, but our two countries could look past the insults we inflicted on each other and find ways to have friendly relations. Having made mistakes in 1953 and 1979, we continue to treat each other as if nothing the other says can ever be right or good. That’s a costly mistake for everyone.
But more important, poor treatment of democracy in Iran and across the globe reflected domestic politics and is being replayed here as Republicans in power have increasingly preferred capitalism, capitalists, money and power over democracy at home. American Judges and legislators here have increasingly unleashedguns as well as corporate and financial power on the election process. The Court invents state and corporate rights, reverses the meaning of constitutional language in ways that favor its wealthy clients, and treats democracy as if it’s not part of the Constitution. Instead, the Supreme Court behaves like Iran’s Guardian council, choosing who may and may not vote, how voters can cast their ballots, how votes are counted, how and by whom campaigns are financed, in order to secure Republican victories, giving Bush the presidency in 2000 and allowing Republican state minorities to manipulate congressional delegations so they can win despite being substantially outvoted. Dress the so-called “justices” in turbans and beards.
Bruce Lawrence, a college classmate and distinguished Duke professor, specialized on Islam and the Muslim world, and recently spoke to us about Allah. A classmate asked about the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam. Bruce explained there’s no principled difference. In a seventh century palace revolt, those called Sunni followed descendants of a male cousin of Mohammad against those called Shia, who followed descendants of Mohammad’s daughter, Fatimah and her husband, Ali. Scholars and clerics in the two lines of descent created competing but similar traditions. Iran commemorates Ali’s assassination on holy days.
But Sunni-Shia hostility goes beyond religion. Bruce commented that Iran has been more cosmopolitan and sophisticated than many neighbors. It sat across major trade routes putting its people in touch with other civilizations. Great Persian poets like Ferdowsi, Saadi, Hafez and Omar Khayyam seeped into western culture.
I listened to news of the six-day Arab-Israeli war with my Iranian host, an agricultural engineer. He’d studied in England and Israel, and came back admiring how Israel made the desert bloom. He felt he should support the Muslim countries fighting Israel, but if seven countries couldn’t take Israel on, they deserved to lose, Muslim or not.
Iran’s treatment of women has problems. I met my wife when she needed a male escort to go through the Tehran bazaar. The locals looked out for her where she worked, though she tells an amusing story of conversing with a Mullah through a translator, even though she understood everything he said. But Tehran was huge and she wasn’t known there. The bazaar would have been dangerous, especially for a blond American. Still, women do better in Iran than in most of its neighbors.
Nevertheless, American Middle-Eastern policy has been a muddle of nonsense. The US supported Iraq against Iran in “a terribly bloody cataclysm” only to fight two wars against Iraq to undo Iraqi power after that struggle. After 9/11, America went after Iraq and Afghanistan though the attack and ideology behind it came from Saudi Arabia. But taking Iraq out of the Middle-Eastern balance of power strengthened Iran. That bugged both the US and Israel. Iran and our country could put common interests ahead of our disagreements. Iran has strong democratic institutions in spite of the Guardian Counsel, had its own reasons to condemn Saddam Hussein and the Taliban, and repeatedlyoffered to negotiate disagreements with the US. But while going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, this country described Iran as the “axis of evil” and pushed them away, leaving us in an endless round of mutual retaliation, and the Middle East continuously unsettled.
Most of us who’ve lived there found Iranians genuinely wanted better relations with the U.S. What they wanted from us was to be treated with respect. Obama understood that, which made possible an inspection-backed agreement to stop development of nuclear weapons. Respect is cheap – done with words, politeness, awareness of the other’s legitimate concerns. That’s why diplomacy is conducted in diplomatic language. Flaunting power, and making threats, drive pushback and make it impossible for world leaders to sell agreements to their own people. Real diplomats are diplomatic.
Our difficulty with Iran reflects a broader American problem – extending the same foolish and dangerous prejudices to Islam abroad that we inflict on people of color here at home leads to wild swings of mob mentality toward the Middle East. America hasn’t been able to distinguish peaceful Islam and Muslim movements from its generic fear of Islam. Some people think every bit of respect shown to non-white people here and abroad is disrespect to white people. I think we save our skin when we welcome friendship and show respect for others.
— If you think I’m on target, please pass it on. This commentary was scheduled for broadcast on WAMC Northeast Report, on Feb. 22, 2022.
On a recent Friday evening, the rabbi asked a congregant to sing a traditional song based on Psalm 133, “Hinneh mah tov umah na’im, Shevet achim gam yachad,” which means “Behold how good and how pleasing, to sit together in unity.” Except she wasn’t singing the tune as I learned it in the summer of 1948 at the age of seven. The rhythm and cadence I remembered was a version being sung in Israel, like many of the songs we learned that summer. For years we were fired by the Israeli example, by the kibbutzim or farms on which people shared everything, and by the struggle for independence. I grew up thrilled by their example and wanting to learn Hebrew the better to enjoy traveling there – until our Temple kicked me out because I‘d become a young critic of our Sunday school and refused to go.
I later discovered that someone I knew and admired was running guns to the Israeli army in 1948. A colleague on the Board of the NYCLU, Jerry was also a member of the Israeli analog to the Civil Liberties Union, fighting against abuses by the State of Israel.
I too became disgusted not only by its denial of civil liberties to its Palestinian minority but also by Israel’s baleful influence on the Middle East. While Iran was quietly working with America to fight both the Taliban in Afghanistan and the terrorists from Arabia, Israel convinced the Bush Administration that Iran was the major problem. Saudi Arabians were responsible for 9/11 but Israel convinced the leadership of this country that Saudi Arabia was the good guy and Iran was the danger. Iran called attention to the radical madrassas that the Saudis supported to develop the extreme version of Islam that led to 9/11. But we stayed friends with Saudi Arabia and haven’t been able to shake off the politics that branded Iran part of the Axis of Evil. Never mind that Iran would have nothing to do with the other so-called axis members – Iran fought a bloody war with Iraq and helped the US deal with the Iraqis but no matter, Iran had to be the enemy.
An increasing body of scholarly literature based on deep dives into diplomatic documents traced that distortion to Israel. Apparently, Israel needed a powerful enemy to convince America it needed more weapons. When Iraq was crushed by American forces, it started warning about Iran – though Israel and Iran were cooperating, and Iran, by popular vote and then with clerical blessing, got rid of the demagogue prime minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Let’s be clear – few nations are angels. Everywhere nations slaughter each other over race, ethnicity, wealth, resources and other ill-gotten gains. I’d like to see Israel succeed, but not by allying itself with evil and extreme Middle Eastern forces, risking American blood and increasing the problems the Middle East poses for our country. I have no more obligation to support the hard wrong in Israel than the alt-cruel in America. The US needs its own foreign policy, for its own interests, not as a proxy for the worst versions of Israeli politics. And as a distinguished physicist pointed out over lunch a few days ago, even if the Iranians made “enough” fuel to create a “bomb,” with the technology they were using, it would be too heavy to deliver to a target. Instead the nuclear material they’re creating was clearly intended for medical use in hospitals, not as a weapon. America needs to get straight who its enemies are and who is doing what. Let the hawks fly in a cage.
— This commentary was scheduled for broadcast on the WAMC Northeast Report, on May 11, 2021.
If you haven’t already seen this editorial, I strongly recommend it. Those of us familiar with Iran, know the Times has it right. And it’s crucial that we make sense to the world as well as to Iran, and avoid pandering to nonsensical political bluster at home.
The only thing wrong with democracy in America is that some people don’t agree with me! Seriously, I have my blind spots too. But it’s also true that the public finds it difficult to hold different things in mind at once. That’s one of the hardest things about playing the piano – one has to control two hands doing different things at the same time. Coordination is hard and hard for the brain, although over time we learn to do it for the things that we have to do every day. When it gets to law or foreign affairs, coordination is a constant issue, enough to give one a headache. But good law and good policy depend on it.
Lots of Americans have a very poor opinion of Iran. But which one? I know lots of Persians who are truly lovely. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve started to hear many Persian-Americans as newscasters or actors in Hollywood and elsewhere. I must say that a complement from Persians is a thing of beauty. I’m sure I would have had a much happier wife if I had been able to learn their skill at complements. Their friendship is strong and permanent.
So perhaps what people mean is their attitude toward the Persian government – but even that isn’t simple. Should they hate America because they despise Trump? Or love America because of their hard-earned respect for Obama – no pushover for them but he understood the lines they could not cross and sought to build trust that could strengthen over time, were it not for the recently defeated White House occupant. America isn’t any simpler for them than Iran is for us.
People, most people, react with great hostility to threats. We do. They do. Threats make us harden our position and try to force adversaries to back down. In that respect they are just like us.
For seven decades America tried to build foreign policy based on law – law that we as well as others would have to abide. As the delegates to the Constitutional Convention repeatedly commented, when one breaks a contract, the other is freed from obligations under it. Trump kept screaming that Iran was in breach. But they adhered to the contract long after we had pulled out, until they finally grew exasperated with us. And once we pulled out, they no longer had any obligations to us. So who was in violation of legal obligations and what does that mean, not only for Iran, but for the rest of the world?
Many people have been trying to get across to us that the rest of the world no longer trusts us. Sure, one can point to things that didn’t go our way over those seventy years, but if you take a closer look, we were calling the shots, and got lots of things we couldn’t have gotten otherwise, as long as we were trustworthy.
Biden apparently believes that his first foreign policy job is to pander to the people of America even though they’ve got it terribly wrong. Only if he can regain for America the trust others once had in us, can we move forward on the big issues that will take international cooperation. It won’t be by shouting. It won’t be by threatening. It won’t be by pulling out of our obligations and trying to blame the other guy. Honoring our commitment to Iran in the nuclear deal that we and several other nations made with Iran is no shame. It’s an important step in a constructive foreign policy.
— This commentary was scheduled for broadcast on the WAMC Northeast Report, on March 16, 2021.
Posted by Steve Gottlieb 
Constitutionalism and Democracy 