UANI/JINSA Briefing Highlights Iran's Destabilizing Behavior on One-Year Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Anniversary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2016
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Keynote speakers at the standing room only event were Reps. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Juan Vargas (D-CA). Chairman Royce noted that "Iran's behavior rather than changing has become worse," and that "instead of remaining vigilant, we have gone to astonishing lengths to accommodate Iran's behavior." Rep. Vargas remarked, "I'm a liberal Democrat and look forward to working with my Republican colleagues to overturn it."

Following Reps. Royce and Vargas, a panel of experts discussed Iran one year after the nuclear agreement. The panel included: UANI Chairman and former U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman; Vice President for New Initiatives and Distinguished Fellow at the Wilson Center Aaron David Miller; and Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow and UANI Advisory Board Member Ray Takeyh.



Sen. Lieberman observed that the "JCPOA, to put it mildly, is not an airtight agreement and it is not being aggressively monitored," and that just because there is a nuclear agreement it "doesn't mean it is safe, or smart, or good business to start doing business with and in Iran." He added that "it's not moral to be doing business with this regime because in doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran, you are essentially supporting a regime one of whose primary goals is to harm the United States of America."

Aaron David Miller discussed Iran's motivations, observing that "Iran is driven by a sense of insecurity on one hand and profound grandiosity on the other. If you encounter that in a person you are bound to encounter a tremendous sense of weakness on the one hand and a sense of profound strength and entitlement on the other--very dangerous." He said that "this is a transactional, not a transformational agreement... a year out if you ask me who came out on top on this deal, I would say Iran on points and then some."

Ray Takeyh provided insights on the political landscape in Tehran. He said that "the level of domestic political subjugation is actually quite unprecedented... we should think of Iran as a moral challenge; its own citizens are primary victims." He added that "Iran's policy in the region can be considered as internationalization of its policy in Lebanon. Really, the Iranian blue print about how to behave in Iraq and Syria originated in the Lebanon of the 1980s... it developed a lethal political party with paramilitary muscle outside the control of central government, that's Hezbollah... essentially what Iran tries to do in all these areas which it enters...is to [ ] set up an apparatus in that country that is responsive to Tehran as opposed to Beirut, Baghdad, or Damascus so now Iran controls lethal Shia militias that it can deploy wherever it wants to see them." Takeyh concluded by stressing that "by the time this agreement expires, if it last that long, I think you will see a country which is free from sanctions, internally economically strengthened, and poised to have a very advanced and sophisticated nuclear program."

For further information about the Iran deal anniversary resources, or to speak with UANI leadership, please contact: [email protected]. 

About UANI

UANI is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan, advocacy group founded in 2008 by Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, former CIA Director Jim Woolsey, and Middle East Expert Ambassador Dennis Ross, that seeks to heighten awareness of the danger the Iranian regime poses to the world.